Clendon David: Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Amendment Bill Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Bill — Third Readings 
Clendon David: Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Amendment Bill Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:663;Page:11626] 
DAVID CLENDON (Green) 
: 
 When this review of Auckland’s governance began people in places like Pakiri and Tomarata probably did not pay too much attention. People would talk about going to “town” and mean Warkworth or Wellsford. I suspect people at Clarks Beach or Ararimu did not pay too much heed to it either because when they go to “town” it is generally to Papakura or Manukau City. However these people along with 1.3 million others will now be privileged to wear a T-shirt that says: “Proud to be a JAFA” because something like one-third of the population of this country from 1 November will have the status of being a JAFA. I have been very happy to wear that label for a number of years but of those 1.3 million I suspect that quite a number will come to realise that they are not. 
Mr Henare in his walk through the park made a comment about identity and I take issue with him on that. People will feel very closely the loss of identity. These identities that have built up within the cities and districts over the last 20 or so years not least in Waitakere City where people are actually proud of that identity. They have contributed to it and they have felt something from it. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Tell us what a westie is. 
DAVID CLENDON 
: That is a very long story I say to Tau and we will talk about it another day. 
A distinct sense of identity and of place evolves only over time. Having lived and worked at different times on the North Shore in Waitakere City and in Auckland City I understand that each of those areas each of those places has a distinct feel and a distinct identity. Whoever gets on to this incoming council or the councils following will have the very difficult task—and it will take a great deal of time—of establishing a sense of community a sense of shared purpose and the sense of vision that is necessary if this new city is to succeed and fulfil the potential that we are told it may have. 
A shared sense of purpose and vision is critical to the success of any urban conglomerate and it is difficult to see how that sense of identity of community interest will arise. We know that the hub of this new city is to be Queen Street and by that I mean Queen Street Auckland—not Queen Street Onehunga; Queen Street Pukekohe; or Queen Street Northcote. It will be Queen Street in downtown Auckland. If this was a business it would be seen not as a merger but as a takeover—and potentially a hostile takeover at that. The choice of Auckland Town Hall as the accommodation for the new council is a very graphic symbol of the fact that Auckland is taking over the other cities and districts and bringing them in to one centralised organisation. 
The furthest reaches of the new city will of course be represented. Each of them will be able to send one councillor to the meetings in Auckland Town Hall. Councillors from the north around Wellsford or Te Hana way will have a 1¼-hour drive off peak. To be at a business meeting at the town hall for 9 in the morning they will have to be early risers. There is a similar journey from the southern boundary. It is a shorter distance but probably a slower journey. From the south to the north of the new city will be a distance by road of some 140 kilometres which is roughly the distance from this Chamber to Palmerston North. I will return to that point later. It is very difficult to see how a community of interest can evolve over that spread of difference—the geographic distance the diversity and the differences in ethnicity income socio-economic status and beliefs. All of those things make places different from any other place. 
The number of electors per councillor will clearly create some tension; indeed it already has. A voter in Rodney will be one of 54000 who might be trying to get the attention of their single councillor. A person in Orakei will be one of 81000 people endeavouring perhaps to get the attention of a councillor. The plus or minus 10 percent population formula has gone seriously out of the window with nearly a 25 percent difference in terms of Rodney 13 percent in Orakei and many of the other wards pushing very hard the boundaries of that maximum allowable under-representation. Auckland is going to grow and we wonder at what point we will be allowed to get more representation to accommodate that population growth. 
Given that something like 38 MPs live in and around the Auckland region compared with 20 councillors the likelihood of people in the street bumping into an MP and having some sort of personal contact with their member of Parliament is probably greater than the likelihood of having any sort of real meaningful relationship or even occasional contact with the local councillor who is meant to represent them. 
We are told that the Auckland Council of 20 and the various local boards will form one seamless integrated decision-making body. In fact that is a myth. The local boards will clearly be seen as what they are: a second-tier almost second-class citizen in terms of representation. We still do not know what their responsibilities their powers their funding or their remuneration will be. We do not know where they will be meeting. There are just too many unknowns. The whole language of the bill the way in which it has been formulated the way in which the debate has rolled out and the outcomes of that debate give the local boards very much the status of second-class citizen. They will struggle. Despite the best efforts of people who are no doubt talented and committed who will take up the onerous task of sitting on those boards they will struggle to genuinely represent the interests of their constituents. 
Owen McShane is gentleman with whom I seldom agree it must be said but I think he is on the button this time. He knows a great deal about local government and particularly resource management in that context. He says the new city is simply too big. He has a nice phrase. He said that people will be disenfranchised by distance. He uses the example of someone living in Albertland. How will they have any connection with what is going on in Queen Street? McShane references a survey on resource management efficiency and finds that in New Zealand there is a negative correlation between the size and efficiency of resource management providers. The survey finds that unitary authorities are uniformly worse than regional councils and the very large regions had the greatest difficulty in terms of meeting the requirements of the Resource Management Act and in delivering services efficiently on time and under cost—or at least at cost. 
The Minister of Local Government in beginning the third reading of these bills made reference to us owing a huge debt of gratitude to the head of the Auckland Transition Agency Mr Mark Ford. I offer no disrespect to that man. He is an extremely capable and skilled gentleman and I am sure he has worked very hard and will continue to do so. However the huge debt that Aucklanders will focus on is that which has been referred to by Mr Twyford—the $266 million and climbing before the cost of redundancies. That will have to be paid for by the newly appointed JAFAs collectively. There is significant human cost. For months people have not been able to make decisions about their own futures even down to where they might be able to live if they wish to keep a job. 
Who is next? That is the final question I leave members with. I spoke to a seminar earlier this week about the super-city. It was a Wellington-based seminar and probably 90 percent of the people were Wellingtonians. The question came unprompted by me about who I thought would be next. I was asked whom I think the Auckland super-city model might next be imposed on. I mention again the distance from here to Palmerston North some 140 kilometres. I suspect that if any people in the Hutt or Porirua—or indeed over the Rimutakas—believe they will retain their local authorities intact when this legislation inevitably goes through they are living in a fool’s paradise. 
Perhaps the last word must go to a gentleman in Auckland who made a submission with a North American accent—it was clear where he came from but he is a Kiwi through and through. He thanked Mr Hide and the drafters of this bill for offering him an opportunity to experience something he could not experience even living in America which is the opportunity to live not in a city but in a corporation. Kia ora koutou.