Hutchison Paul: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hutchison Paul: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6523] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you for the opportunity to speak once again on this very important bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill. 
Dr Rajen Prasad 
: Something new Dr Paul. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Yes there will be something new but I say to the member that he will just have to wait for a moment because I want to reiterate the submission of the Franklin District Council which was particularly powerful and which wished to have a unitary authority that was separate from Auckland. As I hope Mr Prasad knows the council had very strong arguments. Those arguments acknowledged that it was absolutely appropriate for the city and urban metropolitan Auckland to be unified and that the very things that the National-ACT coalition Government are bringing in are indeed brought in expeditiously not after 9 years of waiting during which the Labour Government mucked around. The council also said that some of those reasons included that Franklin was totally self-sufficient in water in stormwater in reticulation in sewerage etc. It also pointed out how very very important it was to ensure that the class 1 and class 2 soils of the Franklin area were preserved and to ensure that urban sprawl did not cause erosion of this very very important factor of which Franklin is so proud and from which it supplies not only Auckland but also the rest of New Zealand and which is very important for exporting around the world. 
There is no doubt that to have a separate unitary authority was going to be a hard ask because neither the royal commission nor the response from the Government supported that. I must say that I personally got in right behind the council. I with various other luminaries—Sir William Birch; Lindsay Tisch the excellent member for Waikato; Mayor Mark Ball; and others—sought to support it. I reiterate that not one Labour member supported the submission of the Franklin District Council. We have heard George Hawkins wax lyrical but he did not get off the bowling greens of Manurewa to even come up to Pukekohe to consult. We have Ross Robertson of course who continues his maniacal gibberish and who also failed in any way to support the Franklin District Council. We have had total silence from Nanaia Mahuta. But sadly right now we have a situation where the boundary lines are drawn through both Waiuku and Pukekohe. There is no doubt that under the Local Government Commission determination they must be moved south. 
Phil Twyford 
: I’d say that’s the worst possible scenario wouldn’t you? 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Yes it is and I hope Mr Twyford that you will pressure the Local Government Commission to ensure that they are moved south. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Point of order— 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Ross Robertson should sit down. It is a waste of time. [ 
Interruption 
] 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I do not think the member needs to state what it is. The member on his feet referred to the Chair— 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Further point of order— 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: I am on my feet. The member will sit down. The member referred to the Chair by use of the wrong pronoun. I ask him to be careful about that. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. You know as well as I do that a point of order is to be heard in silence and that it is to be short and straight to the point. When I tried to raise a point of order there was rabble-rousing from members on the other side of the Chamber and you ignored it. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Eric Roy) 
: The Chair is not required to hear a point of order when the Chair is about to move on the matter. I ruled the member on his feet out of order which I think was the intention of the member. The member himself created some noise and he stayed on his feet when I was making my ruling. We are going to have some order around this. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: I take note of what you have said Mr Chairperson. I must admit that I was distracted by the gibberish from the other side. Indeed I challenge anyone in this Chamber to ensure that those lines move south. But I want to go further than that. I really do wonder about the sincerity of George Hawkins and the Labour Party when we see this technically abysmally drafted amendment in the name of George Hawkins. I think the Hon Rodney Hide pointed out quite succinctly just how bad it was when we had an amendment that could potentially extend the Auckland super-city beyond Mount Ruapehu. 
I have a little note here. It says: “Member and party: George Hawkins MP Labour Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill proposes the southern boundary be south of the current Franklin district and follow the boundary of the Waikato River catchment. Comment: This amendment does not make sense.” That is the summary of the utter confusion amongst the Labour Party.