Wagner Nicky: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWagner Nicky: Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill(No 2) — Third Reading[Sitting date: 15 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:13895. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]NICKY WAGNER (National—Christchurch Central): I am very pleased to be supporting this bill the Local Government (Auckland Council) Amendment Bill (No 2) in its third reading. It is very good that it will be passed before the transitional powers concerning local boards expire. The bill was considered by the Local Government and Environment Committee and it was a pleasure to work on. It was non-controversial. It is a technical bill. There was only one submission and that was from the Auckland Council which supported the bill. The committee members also agreed unanimously to support it and reported the bill back to the House without amendment.As we have heard the bill amends the Local Government (Auckland Council) Act 2009 and it enables Auckland’s local boards to continue to delegate various functions and powers to committees of the local board or to a council officer. It needs to be done now so that the council operations can continue seamlessly because the transitional powers expire on 31 October.Contrary to the comments of the member Phil Twyford the regulations were transitional for a reason. They were transitional to allow for time for a better understanding of how local boards would operate and to make sure that the structure worked well. Time has shown that this structure is very appropriate. It has passed the practical on-the-ground test and there is agreement throughout the Auckland Council to support this structure and to pass this legislation.The National Government of course is very keen to see local government being efficient being responsive and being well focused. So we are supportive of the Auckland Council when it tells us that allowing these local boards to continue delegating responsibilities as they currently do will help them to operate effectively and efficiently.The success of this local board model means that in the future that model in a modified form will be available for use in other parts of New Zealand. Last year in the Local Government Act we allowed for the Auckland two-tier model of government to be used under certain circumstances. It could be used where there was a proposed metropolitan unitary authority that had a population of over 400000. It was not available for smaller populations. However due to requests from local government we are planning to make further amendments to the Local Government Act this year that will provide for the ability for local boards to be established more widely where unitary authorities are established perhaps through reorganisation or amalgamation. For example an amalgamated local authority may be able to achieve economies of scale in infrastructure investment and operation and would perhaps be better able to access specialist expertise and resources.But we do not want to do this at the expense of community choice or identity at a local level. This is where local representation through local boards can perhaps provide for that. It will be up to the Local Government Commission in consultation with communities undertaking any kind of reorganisation to determine whether the establishment of a local board will work in a community can be justified and is desirable. The model is working well in Auckland and it could be another very useful tool for more effective local government elsewhere across the country. I support this bill to the House.