Fenton Darien: Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fenton Darien: Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 19 September 2012. Volume:684;Page:5441. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
DARIEN FENTON (Labour) 
: 
 First of all I want to thank the Greens New Zealand First the Maori Party and Mana for supporting this bill the Local Government (Council-Controlled Organisations) Amendment Bill. It is good to know that on this side of the House political parties believe in openness and transparency. Because what—[ 
Interruption 
]—and actually they are prepared to debate the issues unlike the other side apart from Nick Smith and he does not actually count when it comes to debate. What madness was that from Nick Smith—1950s you know Cold War warrior rhetoric. It was unbelievable. But I also want to thank the supporters friends and others who have helped me with this bill. I want to make it really clear that this has come about through a genuine concern about a lack of accountability and transparency for the ports that we own throughout New Zealand that ratepayers own either wholly or partially. They have no access to official information because of an exclusion in the Local Government Act. 
There has been a lot of talk today about democracy as it should be because it is the 119th anniversary of Suffrage Day. People have referred to Kate Sheppard and asked what she would think about this. It is the day that women won the right to vote and so it is something to be celebrated. But just as important as the right to vote is the accountability of those who are elected to office and those who are put in charge of assets and services that the people of New Zealand own and have built up over many years. It has been very disappointing to hear the weasel words—the few of them—that we have had from the National Party. As my colleague Chris Hipkins has pointed out it has been a bad day for democracy in this Parliament. We have voted down two bills that would have brought openness and transparency. It has been a bad couple of weeks for democracy as well. We had the Environment Canterbury (Temporary Commissioners and Improved Water Management) Amendment Bill under which there will be no elections until 2016 for the people of Christchurch. We also had a whole range of other attacks on democracy. It is not a good look for this Government. It should be ashamed of itself. 
New Zealand ratepayers have the right to know what is going on with the port assets they own yet this Government has just voted down this right. This National Government United Future and the ACT Party—John Banks that pillar of accountability democracy and transparency—will vote down the right of the people of New Zealand to ask questions about the way their publicly owned ports are being run. We have seen such goings-on in Auckland. There is no doubt about it; the Ports of Auckland dispute was a catalyst for this bill but the people have since been in contact with me and said that they have issues about their port too that they own them and they cannot get information. But even elected Auckland councillors cannot get answers about what has been going on with the Ports of Auckland—owned by the ratepayers of Auckland. They asked questions last week and the ports company and Auckland Council Investments Ltd—the council-controlled organisation—are able to hide behind a veil of secrecy and unaccountability. 
What was really interesting in the debate last week at the Auckland Council was that it was told that Gary Swift the head of the council-controlled organisation—Auckland Council Investments Ltd—had told the democratically elected councillors that his board was the port owner and not the council and not the people of Auckland. Just to demonstrate how arrogant that is he sent an email which was tabled at the council. It was sent to the ports management and said in part: “The last thing we need is political interference. If they sense that ACIL is not on top of what’s happening”—and he is talking about the industrial dispute—“they may interfere and it may not go the way we want (the vote 12 to 9 was not a strong endorsement of our position).” That is atrocious. What we have with the Ports of Auckland and other ports is public money publicly owned ports with no accountability. Under my bill people could have asked for that information. What is wrong with that? This Government does not believe in openness and transparency.