Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Hawkins George: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6543] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I will speak tonight about how I used to be in favour of privatisation. I have seen the light. I no longer believe in privatisation. That is very important. I used to be a good friend of Richard Prebble. He would sell anything and I thought that was the way to go. Sell anything! 
Hon Member 
: He did! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: He did. When I was Mayor of Papakura I sold him Papakura’s airport shares so the Government would have the bulk. That was a silly mistake because I did not know the National Government would take those shares and sell them. 
I think John Carter is right. It is not the Government that we need to worry about as far as Auckland’s assets go; it is people like John Banks a well-known privatiser who sold off pensioner flats and houses. Of course I then saw that things were not good. When one beats out old people one knows that privatisation is not the way to go. It is hard for an MP to come down to the Chamber and admit he or she was wrong. But I am quite happy to do it because I think it is very important. When there is $28 billion worth of assets the temptation is very great. 
Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman 
: Just say you are sorry. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: I will say I am sorry. I apologise but I must say that that member who is chatting across the Chamber ran the Mt Albert by-election campaign for the National Party. I reckon he would have gone to its caucus—he would have crawled in on his hands and knees—and said sorry. But I do not want to be distracted. 
When there are $28 billion worth of assets the temptation is very great. You see Auckland has a big problem with leaky houses; a lot of money needs to be spent. So National will look around and think about what it can put its sticky paws on. I do not think it will sell libraries; I do not think it will sell swimming pools. I think it is more original than that. It will look at the various assets it has and it will very quickly get excuses to sell them. 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: Like what? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Well it will try to sell all sorts of things. It might even try to sell the water system; I do not know. I have a bit of difficulty because I am not as devious as the Nats. I am not as devious so I do not know. The Nats are devious enough; they will work it out. 
It is also interesting that only two or three members of the executive have talked in this debate. I think Jonathan Coleman might have had something to say. What does Pansy Wong say? She knows all about privatisation and I think she knows the value of a dollar. She will try to turn $1 into $2 but the people of Auckland will end up with nothing—absolutely nothing. You see when there is so much infrastructure various councils will be doing a bit of stocktaking now. John Banks will be looking to see how he can get the money to pay for things because he will be scared that if rates go up National will be out. That is what will happen to the National Government. When rates go up that is suicide so they will sell the family silver. It has happened before. It happened way back in 1987-89. The family silver gets sold. I reflect on that. I was not here then. I thought it was a good idea but how wrong can one be? One has to be fairly humble to get up in this place and apologise to people. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Rick Barker) 
: Before I call Paul Quinn I comment to members that prior to coming here I was contacted by an avid listener to the debate. It might surprise members but there are avid listeners out there. The listeners are concerned that they were struggling to hear what the speakers were saying because of the noise in the Chamber. I am not saying that people should not interject but if a member is speaking as the member was before and those surrounding him or her are all shouting and bellowing then they will drown out the person speaking. It is Mr Quinn’s call. He has a strong voice and there are not a lot of people around him but I ask members to just be considerate.