Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:654;Page:3627] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I say to the National Government which is desperately trying to shut down debate on new Part 11 that Labour members would like to have a discussion about it. We are putting up serious amendments to try to do the best we can to rectify rotten and flawed legislation. Given that this is the only debate on this legislation happening in this country we do not think it is too much to ask that those members of this House who care about the rights of the people of Auckland who actually care about democracy in Auckland are allowed to have a debate on this issue. So I thank the Chair for giving Labour the call. I say to Government members that they might do well to listen to what we are saying rather than squawking like headless chooks. Nathan Guy might think it is funny to kill democracy in Auckland but the Labour Party does not. 
New Part 11 is very important. There is one very simple line in this part which the Labour Opposition has put up that might not seem like a big deal; clause 38(2) says simply: “The Commission is independent from the Auckland Transition Agency.” Do members know what? The Auckland Transition Agency is not independent from Rodney Hide; it is not independent at all. Because of that people should be very concerned. This hand-picked bureaucracy will have all the powers of the current eight democratically elected Auckland councils. As I said last night in the debate given that the Auckland Transition Agency is basically for all intents and purposes going to be the Auckland Council for the next 18 months the people of Auckland the ratepayers of Auckland need to know that there is some kind of check and balance on the power of that organisation. 
I see Sam Lotu-Iiga laughing; he thinks he is about to get a third job on the Auckland Transition Agency. I urge Government members to look seriously at new Part 11 and take a call to debate it rather than just being annoyed that they are being made to work on a Saturday. 
Another very important point is that clause 50 “Hearings” states: “The Commission shall meet every Monday and Tuesday of every week for the duration of the transition period.” This is a very interesting clause. When we go back to Part 3 which was voted on last night and was opposed by members on this side of the Chamber we notice all kinds of clauses on the requirement for the Auckland Transition Agency to report to the Minister but nothing about its need to represent the community. There is clause after clause about how the agency must report to the Minister at regular intervals on progress and must provide a final report. What does the bill say the agency must do for the people of Auckland? The Government members have gone quiet now because none of them have actually read this legislation. They have their research unit notes and they have been trotted down here to take closure motions but none of them have read the legislation. Well there is nothing in the bill about representing the people of Auckland. In fact the agency is “to provide information to the public of Auckland … as it thinks fit”. If we look at the process of this bill which is going through the Committee stage without it having been to a select committee we can probably guess that “as it thinks fit” will be never unless the agency tells the councils not to buy toilet paper as one of the Auckland councils suggested in the newspaper the other day. 
That raises a very important point. The Auckland Transition Agency has the power to veto any kind of spending a council wants to do. The agency will ask the Minister whether it is OK for the North Shore City Council to buy toilet paper this week and the Minister will say no because he is worried that the council will go over to Mount Albert and use it to block the bulldozers. The council can then say to the agency that actually the toilet paper is important for tourism; it needs to buy toilet paper for a lot of public toilets and it is worried that without it people might not want to come to Auckland. 
Labour members are proposing a review commission. It will have to meet it will have to be accountable to the people of Auckland and—this is a really good part—its members will actually have to have experience in local government. Unlike the members of the Auckland Transition Agency’s governing body these people will have to know what they are doing and they will be there to serve the people of Auckland in a local government capacity. The review commission will be able to review the Minister’s decision about toilet paper. 
I think that is a really important safeguard for the people of Auckland. A transition agency is being set up to hand power over to the Minister’s mates and the Prime Minister’s mates until a council structure can be put in place which will then hand power over to the Minister’s mates and the Prime Minister’s mates. We need a check and balance and the review commission is that check and balance. As I said the review commission will have to meet every Monday and Tuesday of every week for the duration of the transition period. There is no requirement on the Auckland Transition Agency to actually meet with the people of Auckland. There is no requirement at all for it to be accountable to the people of Auckland.