Henare Tau: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Henare Tau: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6378] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 I want to talk about the local boards but let us go back to the start. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Let’s go back to Maori seats. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No let us go back to the start. When the member can pronounce “Maori” correctly I will start listening to her. We may as well start at the beginning. There is no such thing as “Mari”. 
I want to talk about local boards and about how throughout the process— 
Hon Members 
: Ha ha! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is all right. Members can laugh at the mispronunciation of the indigenous language. That is all right; I am cool with that. I am sure they are cool with it as well. 
What we heard from the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee and from the people who came before that committee related to the real issues of democracy and local power. Some of the other things the Labour members talked about incessantly were power and democracy and what local boards could look after. There was the obvious issue for Su’a William Sio about swimming pools. 
Lynne Pillay 
: Did you pronounce that properly? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Absolutely. I am from Otara. I was born and bred in Otara. The member can prattle on about where she was born and bred but the fact of the matter is that local boards will not only have power to make decisions but also money to spend on local issues. There will be a requirement for local boards to create local plans for goodness’ sake! 
When one looks at most things in the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill one sees that not a lot of it can be argued against by Labour members. In fact one of the things I have noticed in this debate is that when things get pretty hot and a wee bit aggressive from the Labour members the only thing they can talk about— 
H V Ross Robertson 
: When we get passionate Tau. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: The only thing they can get passionate about is the Maori seats. For them it is not about local democracy any more or about moving the city forward. It is not about taking 1.4 million people on a journey. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What do you think of Rodney? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: What do I think of Rodney? I will tell members what I think of Rodney: it is a nice place to live and it should be part of the super-city. As for Franklin I am sure that the Local Government Commission will decide in its wisdom how things should pan out when we are through with our business. 
But members should make no mistake; although we may get upset about Maori seats and about who is in and who is not the real issue is local power. It is about power in local people’s hands. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: As long as they’re members of the National Party. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It does not matter whether they are in the National Party. This is the unfortunate Fabian rant that we get. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: I didn’t know you knew Fabian. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh I know about Fabians all right. Just talk to Phil Twyford. 
Phil Twyford 
: Name one! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I will name one: Phil Twyford. There we go. He is the chairman of the Fabians. This is all about local democracy about people making decisions. [ 
Interruption 
] “Spot” who is trying to get the call should sit down. [ 
Interruption 
] Well we would not know anyway. This is about local decisions. It is about local people making local decisions about local issues. 
Hon Member 
: Yeah right! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Members opposite say “Yeah right!”. Well look at the power of the local boards. They can make plans— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: They’ve got no money. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Yes they have money. Of course they have money. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: They’ve got no staff. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh the member says “They’ve got no staff.” For goodness’ sake! These are the Labour Party members. They want to create employment all right; they want to create employment for their no-hoper mates in the left-wing Labour Party communities out in the suburbs where they think— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Divide and rule! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: For goodness’ sake! The country listened to that twaddle for 9 years and it decided that it was time to move on. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Longer than you’ll last! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well 3 years 6 years or 9 years—this is all about taking a city on a journey— 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Backwards! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh no not backwards. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Rightwards! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Absolutely not backwards and not right and not left. It is about taking Auckland on a journey. It is a city that needs to go forward as one not as four five or six different entities. This is about taking 1.25 million people on a journey together. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What about the Maori seats? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: There they go! Maori seats do not come into it. It is all about taking a journey to where the city needs to go. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: Into the deep blue night! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Wherever it is we need to make sure that in respect of the infrastructure and the power base the people of Auckland get a foot in and are listened to. This is about 1.25 million people taking a journey together and making sure that it is the best city— 
Lynne Pillay 
: What do you call those things that jump off cliffs? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That member is a silly woman. This is about a journey that needs to take place. It is about taking the whole of the city on that journey. We cannot do that with four cities. We cannot do that with Mayor Williams Mayor Brown Mayor Harvey and Mayor Banks all worried about their own little patches. I am very proud to say that what the Government and the select committee have done is basically to agree with 90 percent of what the submitters had to say. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: I doubt that. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh yes absolutely. The big drawcard for the left was the issue of the Maori seats. 
Hon David Cunliffe 
: It should be for you too. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well we lost that one. Ninety percent of the issues that were canvassed in front of the select committee have been dealt with in a manner that shows they were listened to. Members have made a big issue out of the Maori seats and maybe we should. But at the end of the day that plays a small part in the game of this new Auckland super-city. 
That is what I am trying to get at: 90 percent has been agreed to not only by National but also by Labour and by most of the people who came to give their submissions in front of the select committee. We all know that; we were all there. No one can tell me that there were all these issues and that the submitters had a whole range of issues that they wanted dealt with. I repeat that 90 percent of the issues that were canvassed by those people who made submissions have been taken account of in this bill.