Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
Twyford Phil: Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:663;Page:11581] 
PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) 
: 
 I want to devote my final call of the night on the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill to the people of northern Rodney the 22000 people in the northern extremity of this region who feel very very hard done by by this National Government. They feel betrayed and they feel like they have been treated with contempt but they are not alone. People from Wellsford to Pukekohe feel exactly the same way—97 percent of people in the Our Auckland referendum said that they were unhappy with the way the Government had run the whole super-city process. A solid 50 percent of Aucklanders in the last batch of the  
Herald- 
DigiPoll were unhappy no matter which way the question was asked. They said they opposed the Government’s super-city. They did not believe that it would lead to better management of the region and they do not like the way they were ignored—58 percent did not want council-controlled organisations. The Government is lucky if it can muster 20 to 30 percent of Aucklanders who have anything positive to say about the super-city model of the Minister in the chair the Minister of Local Government and the way he has managed the process. 
But let us look at the situation of northern Rodney because I think it is a really interesting case study. It is an example of change management and political management that has been an absolute fiasco from beginning to end. The royal commission recommended after 2 years of research and extensive consultation that all of Rodney District be brought within the new unified Auckland. The select committee heard submissions in Rodney and many many people local organisations community boards and individuals came along. People were clearly divided in the community about whether they wanted to be in and Mayor Penny Webster famously said “The super-city is a great idea but it’s a great idea for you and not for us.” Well John Carter the Sancho Panza of this entire enterprise advised Cabinet and the Prime Minister to cut the problem in half. His solution was to send the northern part of Rodney up into Kaipara and to bring the southern part down into the Auckland super-city. That was the recommendation from the select committee. 
Then we had the infamous meeting at the Ascension vineyard in Matakana. It is very interesting to speculate on what was said who was there and who were the influential National Party supporters at that meeting who were able to exercise enough pressure to force the National Government to change its position 24 hours before it brought the second super-city bill back to this House. So 24 hours before the Government did a complete flip-flop on John Carter’s decision to bring half of Rodney in and it went back to the royal commission recommendation and said that it was going to bring the whole of Rodney in. 
The Northern Action Group and the Wellsford Community Group went from door to door. They collected 6000 signatures for their petition to stay out of Rodney out of a community of 22000. They brought that petition to the Local Government and Environment Committee and what did the National members do on that committee? They rejected it outright. They said they did not want to have a bar of it. They rejected the petition that one in three or one in four people in that community had signed. Labour supports the royal commission boundaries for Auckland but we believe that the people of Rodney have been treated with such contempt by such an amateurish process run by this Minister that the people of northern Rodney deserve to have their case heard. That is why we have brought this Supplementary Order Paper to the Committee of the whole House today. 
But it is not just the people of northern Rodney; the entire population of Auckland has been treated with contempt. Those people were never consulted on the findings of the royal commission. They were never given the chance like every other community around New Zealand to have a say on a forced amalgamation through a binding referendum. No local National MP was willing to support the local bill to exclude Rodney from the super-city and it is an established custom in this Parliament that local members will support a bill. Not the member for Northland and not the member for Rodney—neither of them was prepared to support the voice and the will of the local people in northern Rodney and bring that bill to the House. Well what a travesty! All I can say is that the people of northern Rodney will remember that next year.