Kedgley Sue: Urgent Debates — Royal Commission on Auckland Governance—Government Response 
Kedgley Sue: Urgent Debates — Royal Commission on Auckland Governance—Government Response 
[Volume:653;Page:2524] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party is gravely concerned that if the Government and the Minister of Local Government continue to bulldoze ahead with these sweeping far-reaching proposals Aucklanders will wake up in about 2 or 3 years’ time and discover that they have been conned. They will wake up to discover that democracy in the Auckland region has been significantly shrunk. They will wake up to discover that they have inherited a huge bloated remote inaccessible super-bureaucracy—a super-council—a council run by a tiny inner cabal. It will be run probably by two men—and I fear that it will be men. It will be a mayor with an incredible concentration of powers a sort of tsar of Auckland and a chief executive again with huge and sweeping powers. All of this concentration of power they will find will be counterbalanced only by 30 local councils that are little more than impotent talkfests. I predict that if this goes ahead the people who are elected to those 30 local boards will find themselves utterly frustrated. They will be wringing their hands in frustration because they will have all of the expectations of their local communities yet they will be utterly impotent utterly powerless to promote the interests of those local communities. 
The question we must ask is why the unseemly haste? We ask why there is this unseemly haste to rush through the implementation of the royal commission’s proposals which are sweeping far-reaching proposals. They will change the future shape of democracy in New Zealand and indeed all around New Zealand because let us make no mistake the Government having foisted this on Auckland will intend to do the same around the rest of New Zealand. We ask why we are racing it through without allowing for local communities to have some consultation on these far-reaching changes. So far there has been a complete lack of community consultation since the recommendations were made. Community boards all over Auckland are clamouring and asking to please give them a pause to allow the time for them to understand the commission’s recommendations and to understand how they will impact on the everyday lives of their communities. They are pleading with the Government so why the unseemly race? 
We ask why we are not doing what National before the election promised solemnly to do. National members said that they would consult with Aucklanders once the findings of the royal commission were known. They did not say that they might consult; they did not say that it was a possibility—they made a solemn promise to Aucklanders and indeed to New Zealanders that National would consult with Aucklanders once the findings of the commission were known. We call upon the National Government and the Minister of Local Government to make good on that promise and to allow Aucklanders to be consulted on these far-reaching proposals. 
We are deeply concerned and alarmed at the extraordinary concentration of power in the offices of the mayor and the chief executive. The mayor will basically be able to propose the super-city budget formulate all major policy appoint the deputy mayor and appoint all council chairpersons of committees. I have been on a city council the Wellington City Council for 9 years and I can tell members that once the mayor selects his inner cabal—and it looks unfortunately as though it will be a “his” rather than a “her”—and sets the budget all of the strategic directions and all of the long-term plans he will have total concentrated power over the future direction of Auckland. Aucklanders should not be duped or deceived on that point. They should be aware of the huge and unprecedented concentration of power that this move represents. 
Other speakers have asked how councillors who are elected at large could possibly be able to be accountable to their 1.4 million electors. How will they be able to be accountable to them? I do not believe that they will be able to be directly accountable to as many people as that. 
That brings us to the issue of the local boards. It is extraordinary that under the proposals the Government has completely wiped out six city councils in Auckland and all of the democracy they represent. The Government is proposing to wipe out very effective local councils. The Waitakere City Council is strongly supported by its community. The Manukau City Council is strongly supported by that city. Those councils will be simply wiped out with one fell swoop and replaced instead with those 30 local boards. They number no more than the existing community boards but they will be effectively devoid of powers. 
What powers will those local boards have? They will have no budgets and no powers of implementation. They will not be able to hire staff raise their own revenue or set rates. They will not even be able to offer service delivery. They will not even have the ability to implement their own plans although there is some mention that they may be allowed to develop policies over dog control liquor licensing and graffiti control. We were also told in the briefing yesterday that the people—I do not even know whether they will be called councillors—who will be on these local boards will be paid about the same as members of local community boards. That is the princely sum of about $12000 a year. 
Hon John Carter 
: It’s not about money. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: I ask how local boards will be adequately represented by local board members councillors or whatever they will be called who are paid $12000 a year and who will be able to perhaps meet only every now and then and probably often at night. What this move represents is a forced amalgamation. Why are we doing all of this? We are not doing it to save money. No one is even pretending that this will save money and we know that it will not. We know that in all of the forced amalgamations around the world virtually nothing has been saved and we know that people always underestimate the costs of the implementation of the new council. So why are we doing it? Essentially we are doing it because we will have this super-council with one voice. The Green Party agrees that Auckland needs one voice and we agree that there needs to be one integrated transport plan. But we do not agree with the mechanism that the Government has come up with to implement this which involves an incredible concentration of power—probably a greater concentration of power than could be found in any local council around the world. We are also deeply concerned about the sweeping elimination of the three Maori seats which the royal commission had proposed. The Government has given no good reason why it has wiped out those three Maori seats—no good reason at all. In fact the Government has given no good reason for much of what it has done. 
In conclusion the Green Party is calling on Aucklanders to be aware that they are being conned and that they will wake up to find themselves with their democracy shrunk an incredible concentration of power and impotent local boards. Aucklanders must be aware of that. The Green Party calls on Aucklanders to rise up and demand as we are doing that this process be slowed down that there is what the Government promised—consultation with Aucklanders—so that Aucklanders can understand the far-reaching implications of these proposals so that the Government does not just ram and bulldoze these proposals through. There should be no unseemly haste. 
Finally I say that in overseas countries—in England and America—they are going in exactly the opposite direction. Those countries have worked out that the key is in empowering grassroots local democracy not creating large super-cities or carrying out forced amalgamations. The whole trend is towards local empowered communities. Sure there are 30 community boards but these boards are not empowered— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: I regret to advise the member that her time has expired. 
Hon JOHN CARTER (Associate Minister of Local Government) 
: 
 The urgent debate on the Government’s response to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance is a very important debate in this House; indeed it is not likely that we will debate as big an issue over the first term of this Government. I acknowledge the contribution the Prime Minister has made to this issue and congratulate him on the leadership he has shown this Parliament Auckland and this nation. I also congratulate Rodney Hide on the work and the leadership he has shown because in the very short time that this Parliament and this Government have had this report the response has been extraordinary. I also compliment the staff who have been involved in the Government’s response. They have done an outstanding job and they deserve to be complimented on the work and the effort they have put in. 
The one neat thing about the result the Government has delivered is that it brings clarity to the governance of Auckland. One of the problems that Auckland has—and all members in this House would concede—is that at the moment it is just a mess. There are 21 authorities looking after roading and regional issues that cannot be decided because there is so much disagreement amongst the councils. It goes on and on. All New Zealanders—not just Aucklanders—pay for the fact that there is no way of making decisions around Auckland. The Government has gone up and put into unitary authority the ability for an authority to make regional decisions and we have gone down to the local communities to ensure that there is local democracy at the local level by having enhanced local boards. That is so important. We will end up with the ability for the unitary authorities to think regionally plan strategically and act decisively. That is something that has been missing in Auckland for years and years. Even more we will end up with less bureaucracy and more democracy. Who can argue against less bureaucracy and more democracy? Surely to goodness everybody in this House I assume stands for democracy. There may be some members who do not and maybe they will take a call and suggest they do not and that is fine. I am proud of the Government’s response and I am proud to have been involved with it. 
If there is one disappointment in this whole issue it is the slowness with which the Opposition responded to the Government’s response. It took Opposition members 3 hours and 2 minutes to come out with any statement at all and then unfortunately they got it wrong. Members should look at one or two of the things that the Leader of the Opposition whose name escapes me at the moment said in his statement. 
Allan Peachey 
: The guy who’s “Phil-ing” in. 
Hon JOHN CARTER 
: Yes that is right. He said: “The Government is ramming through without consultation decisions”—it actually does not even read right—“on Auckland governance that will result in a huge centralisation of power in the new Auckland SuperCity”. Actually the royal commission received 3500 written submissions and heard over 500 oral submissions yet the Leader of the Opposition says that there was no consultation. He also says: “The Government’s decisions completely remove the local from local government. Most Aucklanders will feel they have less access to their decision-makers. The boards which replace the local councils will have limited real power and therefore relevance.” What a lot of nonsense! The fact is that we have enhanced local boards that will represent local communities. You know local people want to have a say in things like their halls. These people want to know where their bike stands are going to be. They want to talk about which park they can allow people to walk their dogs on or not and about where their swimming pools might be. All those sorts of things matter to local communities. Those things are important to the communities. They are now going to have their say. The Local Government Commission will consult with Auckland as the Government said it would and make sure that the views are heard on where the local boundaries should be. There will be local consultation and we will end up with better local democracy than ever. 
Members on the other side of the Chamber ask about the powers. Well unlike the previous legislation—where the local authorities had the ability to delegate or not or to say there could be community councils or not—it will be mandatory to have local boards as we pass legislation and those boards will be given the opportunity to represent their communities. That is something that the Opposition just cannot seize on and that the Green Party does not understand. Actually we are enhancing local democracy. This Government thinks local democracy is important. We think that putting the “local” back into local government is absolutely essential and that is exactly what we are doing. We are relieving Auckland of the tedious mess and of the lines of candles that it had. We are allowing Aucklanders to get on and make decisions at the level that they should be made—decisions on roading the ports and the airports. We will have one authority that will allow them to make decisive decisions and to get on with things and make them happen. 
It is good for Auckland and good for all of New Zealand. It is estimated that every New Zealander pays today on average $10 a week because of the congestion in Auckland. We want to relieve New Zealanders of that burden. We want to make sure that we all stop paying for waste. We want efficiency of delivery yet Mr Goff goes out there and says that we do not have it right. He says we are not putting the “local” back into local government. Well I ask Mr Goff to think again. We will have somewhere between 20 and 30 enhanced local boards with powers that allow them to represent their local communities. What could be better than that? Mr Goff said: “The Government promised to strengthen local representation. Instead they have done the opposite centralising all real power in one Auckland-wide council.” Goodness gracious me! Here he is saying that we need to have regional representation and that we need to be able to make decisions on a regional basis. So what did we do? We set up the unitary authority in the way that that the royal commission said we should. We did exactly what it asked in that regard yet here is Mr Goff criticising it and saying we are going to make it an all-encompassing unitary authority. That is exactly what we wanted to do—what the royal commission did. After all it was the Opposition members over there who actually made this happen. He goes on to say: “They actually changed the commission’s recommendations without any consultation. Aucklanders will have no opportunity to have their voices heard.” What a lot of nonsense. Mr Goff should—but obviously does not—understand that as we go through changing the boundaries as we go through putting the ward boundaries in place and as we go around putting the local enhanced local boards in place there will be consultation. There will be continuous consultation; the Local Government Commission is charged with consulting the people. It has to do that as it is part of its responsibility. 
I have to say that this as a response from a Government in just under 14 days was a fantastic result. Everybody who was involved in it—and that is all of us—can take a bow. We have done a fantastic job. We are going to untangle Auckland we are going to relieve Aucklanders of congestion we are going to reduce costs we are going to get rid of inefficiency we are going to have efficiency of delivery and we are going to make sure there is value for money. With this system the ratepayers will know that they are getting back value for the dollars they are paying—something they have not had for years and years. I am proud of the Government proud to be working alongside Rodney Hide and proud of the coalition Government that is going to deliver something that is good for Aucklanders and good for all New Zealanders. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Just before I call the next speaker I just say to the House that the general hubbub in here is rising and rising. I ask members to talk quietly and those in the gallery to talk quietly as well. If you want to talk please talk quietly.