Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill

Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) Link to this

I move, That the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill be now read a second time. I firstly pay tribute to my colleague Colin King for making an excellent speech in his last contribution. He certainly saved my skin. I note that the Local Government and Environment Committee has advised against passing this bill, due to the restructure of the councils in the Auckland region. It is not often that a bill such as this is enthusiastically and unanimously supported in Parliament in its first reading, but, due to a twist of circumstances, is likely to be voted down today.

Hon STEVE CHADWICK (Labour) Link to this

I am sure that the good member for Hunua, Dr Paul Hutchison, has represented his electorate very ably in the issue of the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill, but this issue has simply been superseded. It has been superseded by the decisions made by Rodney Hide, which were really about fast tracking Auckland governance. He left the great fight that the member Paul Hutchison was fighting for the good people of Hunua in the slipstream.

ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tāmaki) Link to this

I commend the member for Hunua, Dr Paul Hutchison, for the logic, reason, and structure that he took in his introductory speech on the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill. I contrast that with the irrelevance of the speech from the Labour list member, Steve Chadwick.

I wonder whether I can continue with the theme of my speech about Christ’s College and devote the next 5 minutes to the governance of Ruapehu College. Maybe in 5 minutes time I will have achieved my objective for the day in getting the name of my old school mentioned in Hansard more often than that fine school in Canterbury.

I seem to recall that I spoke in the first reading of this bill in favour of it being referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee. I now find myself speaking in support of the select committee’s recommendation that this bill not be passed, because of the restructuring of governance in the wider Auckland area.

The need for this bill came about in the first place because of two pieces of legislation, the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 and the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000. They required the Franklin district to make a contribution on the basis of population to the running costs of both of those institutions.

The select committee came to the view, as I have said, that this bill is no longer required. I note with interest and empathy Dr Hutchison’s very strong support for the area and his sense of representing his community in this House in the very best possible way. He has done that, and all credit to him for it, but it really is a simple matter: since this bill was introduced, there has been a major restructuring of the governance of the Auckland region.

I think the elections for the new council have started. I seem to recall that my ballot papers arrived on Monday. I will no doubt exercise my democratic right, cast my vote, and ensure that as many candidates as possible who identify with the left of politics in New Zealand do not get elected. I guess that was one of the great things about going to Ruapehu College—that the school was always represented in an electorate that returned a National member year after year after year.

In conclusion, I say that this bill will not be passed. There is no longer any necessity for it to be passed, and I think it can now be dispatched reasonably quickly. Thank you.

PHIL TWYFORD (Labour) Link to this

I want to pay tribute to the member for Hunua, Dr Paul Hutchison, who is coming to the end of a fine political career. He was highly regarded by the people in the Hunua district. The member for Hunua stood up—briefly—and articulated the fears and concerns of his constituents. He did it once, then he was steamrollered by the National Party. Since then he has been very, very quiet about how the people of Hunua feel about the super-city. This bill we are debating tonight, the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill, reflects the concerns and the fears that the people in that member’s electorate have about the way the National-ACT Government has shafted democracy in Auckland.

If there is one man whom Dr Paul Hutchison has to blame for the impending finale of his political career, it is Rodney Hide. Rodney Hide was set up by this Government to do its dirty work. It gave him the job of restructuring Auckland governance because it thought that he would be able to do this very dangerous, high-risk job, and he would attract all the political flack, then when things got out of hand the Prime Minister would be able to shrug and say: “That’s just Rodney Hide, not us.” But Rodney Hide’s credibility as the Minister of Local Government, who is the Minister responsible for creating the Auckland super-city, is so utterly tarnished and damaged not only because of what he has done to Auckland democracy but also because of a list of things as long as your arm that have destroyed the credibility of the Minister of Local Government. I am not going to detail that full list, because I think the House and New Zealanders who are listening will know that he is the most damaged man in New Zealand politics.

The consequence of the damage to Rodney Hide’s credibility has been that the Auckland reforms are completely tarnished in the eyes of Aucklanders, and Rodney Hide’s political carcass is hanging around the neck of this Government. The people of Franklin—the people who asked for this bill to be brought to the House—regret it. They regret that they were dragged, kicking and screaming, by Rodney Hide into the Auckland super-city, and the belated and rather modest attempts that Dr Paul Hutchison made to express their concerns did not make the slightest bit of difference.

The people of Franklin, like the people of Rodney and like the people right across the Auckland isthmus, are disillusioned and disenchanted, and there are plenty of reasons why. It is not just because they were roped into paying a certain amount every year through their rates for institutions like the Museum of Transport and Technology or the Auckland War Memorial Museum, which is what this bill initially attempted to deal with; it is because they have lost their democratic voice in local government. Through the setting up of council-controlled organisations by the National-ACT Government, 75 percent of local government has been corporatised. [Interruption] The member Steven Joyce was responsible for insisting at Cabinet, against the advice of Treasury and two other Government departments, on corporatising transport, and that is the very thing that the people of Franklin resent, because it has been imposed on them. He insisted on having an undemocratic corporate model for the Transport Agency, which is going to spend more than half the rates of the people of Franklin. What democratic say will they have over his corporate jack-up of a super-city? They will have very little say, and that is why the people of Franklin are concerned.

The other reason they are concerned is that they are worried they will lose their voice and that they will lose the identity of the region of Franklin in this super-city. They have good reason to be afraid, because this ACT-National Government has taken away the powers of local communities. It has set up these toothless local boards, which have no ability to make by-laws. Steven Joyce’s Transport Agency has the ability to make by-laws, and it is run by a bunch of hand-picked corporate directors. For the people of Franklin, their local board under this super-city will not even have the ability to make a by-law. They will have to get on their knees and beg the Auckland Council to make a by-law for the region of Franklin. Well, how democratic is that? It is no wonder they are ticked off.

What else are the people of Franklin concerned about? They, like the majority of Aucklanders who have said this in recent opinion polls, believe that their rates will go up because of the Rodney Hide - John Key super-city, and we imagine that they would have good grounds for their concern about that. Rodney Hide has been going around town saying that the user charges will go down, under his super-city. The cost of having one’s dog registered under the new Auckland Council will be $70. Well, the people of Franklin currently pay $60 to have their dog registered. Rodney Hide is going around boasting that building inspectors will cost $110 an hour in the new Auckland super-city. Well, I have news for members. In Franklin, I say to Dr Hutchison, people pay no more than $112, but it is often as low as $73 for a building inspector.

COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura) Link to this

It is a pleasure to join Dr Paul Hutchison in speaking to the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill. We have a situation where the bill has effectively been overtaken by events that have been led by this Government in combining a number of rather fractured and dysfunctional aspects of our major city, Auckland. This bill was originally introduced on 13 August 2008. As we know, in November 2008 New Zealand had an election. The people of New Zealand voted in a John Key - led National Government, supported by the ACT Party, and National also appreciates the support we get from the Māori Party.

However, I draw members’ attention to the fractious nature of libraries and museums. Even down at the Hurunui District Council, we have problems with distance and the ratings of libraries and museums. At the last local body elections down there, the people of Cheviot were particularly concerned about not having access to the library in Amberley. When we stop and think of those distances, we realise they are rather short, but that is the nature of funding. I think one can see that originally there was a lot of merit in bringing forward this bill.

Dr Paul Hutchison, a very good member, took this bill up to ensure that those historical wrongs were put right. However, with the speed and the agenda of this Government in working towards having the greater Auckland City go to the local body elections to choose one mayor and one council—

GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) Link to this

It is an honour to follow Colin King, who had such an authoritative ending to his speech. Both sides of the House agree that the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill should not proceed. Obviously, as the Local Government and Environment Committee noted, the bill should not proceed because the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act has superseded it. It is important to reflect on the process by which that Act came into being while reflecting on this bill, because we have to set the context.

I think it is worth noting, firstly, the excellent work that the select committee did on the bill. Would it not have been good if all of the legislation regarding the change to Auckland governance had found its way to a select committee? Perhaps if that had happened, the people of Auckland might have had a true opportunity to be listened to. What we have seen, with the change in Auckland governance, is the activities of one Minister, Rodney Hide—the tail wagging the dog of the National Government. Now, perhaps, National members might be looking across at Rodney Hide, who is the Minister responsible for the legislation that superseded this bill, and asking whether they want to be associated with that man. Do they really want the public of New Zealand to think that Rodney Hide is leading the strategy for the National Government for our biggest city and for the biggest change in local government in New Zealand’s history, certainly since the 1989 reforms? Do they really want the National Government to be led by Rodney Hide? He is a man whose credibility has been destroyed, a man who has covered up the most despicable of acts, and as a Minister he now has no credibility to be leading a process that this bill has now been superseded by. National members have to ask themselves that question. Rodney Hide has clearly got it wrong in Auckland, and my colleague Phil Twyford has talked about that.

Of course there was a need for change in Auckland governance. Of course there was a need to bring together the people of the Greater Auckland region in a way that would benefit transport and those issues that cut across different parts of the city. But the way that the National Government has put forward the reforms for Auckland governance has been unacceptable. It has overridden democracy. It has put in place people who will enforce the agenda of Rodney Hide and others in vitally important organisations.

When I look at this bill, which refers in particular to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology, I wonder whether part of the $62 million computer system that the Auckland super-city is putting in place might one day find itself at the Museum of Transport and Technology. When people visit the museum and look at it, they will say: “Gosh, $62 million. That was a lot of money to spend on a computer system. It’s unbelievable that it didn’t go out to tender.” It is absolutely incredible that a project as important as that, as important for Auckland and its future, did not go out to tender. Once again, that is an example of the way in which the process of the Auckland governance reforms, which superseded this bill, have been railroaded through, have not been subject to due process, and, in fact, are a black mark on this Government. The Government needs to reconsider whether it is appropriate that those reforms continue in this way.

One of the interesting aspects of this bill is that it cuts to the question of regional amenities. Obviously the people of Auckland and the people of Franklin have had some difficulty ironing out exactly where the boundaries lie, and that is the reason why this bill came forward. I speak here as a member representing the Wellington region to say that this issue is vexing many of the councils in this area. The Wellington City Council, which oversees a number of excellent facilities in the region, has been looking to other councils to ask if it can sustain these facilities without the support of people in the region. As we know, the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology are visited by people from the Franklin area, and they are visited by people from a number of other regions nearby. The question automatically arises: what should be done about that?

The Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Act was passed, and it enables the Auckland region to look at things on a regional basis. As a Wellington member of Parliament, I am certainly well disposed to the idea of something similar to that happening in Wellington. Obviously in Wellington we have a great deal of important artistic and cultural institutions, such as Te Papa, the International Festival of the Arts, the National Opera, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand School of Dance, and the New Zealand School of Music. These are all vitally important parts of our cultural infrastructure here in the Wellington region. We need them to be sustainable, because, quite frankly, people in Wellington will look and say that now we have this very powerful entity in Auckland, will we be able to continue to hold on to these regional amenities in the Wellington region? I think the answer is that obviously we want to hold on to them, and we need to make sure that the whole region can look towards cooperating on that. I look forward to the end of the local body elections, when we will find out who will be representing those Wellington councils. Certainly as a Wellington MP I will want to work with them on that.

This bill has, indeed, been superseded by the process that has occurred in Auckland. From Labour’s point of view, that process has not been acceptable. It has not been democratic. It has shown up the Government in a very poor light. The connection with ACT leader Rodney Hide in this regard is something that the people of Franklin I am sure will remember, and the people of Auckland generally will remember. Although this bill will be discharged tonight after its second reading, it is fair to say that it reminds us of the stain on this Parliament of the way in which the National - ACT Government has forced on the people of Auckland a structure and a process that they have not had a proper say in. The Government lost a great opportunity to put in place a truly democratic Auckland governance structure, which could have gotten over some of the problems that have bedevilled Auckland for many years, but still kept a democratic process in place. That is something that Parliament needs to reflect on very seriously as this bill is discharged.

LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupō) Link to this

I rise to speak on the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill, which was brought before the House by the very hard-working National member of Parliament for Hunua, Dr Paul Hutchison. I believe that he has represented his constituents very well in bringing forward this issue, which is concerned with a rating anomaly. Members on the other side have gone into a variety of rants about changes to the Auckland super-city that are not relevant to this legislation. This bill arose because of a rating anomaly associated with two Acts of Parliament that allowed for levies to be raised for the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology on the basis of the population of the Franklin District.

We have had quite a wide-ranging discussion on the super-city. It was interesting to hear Labour members criticise the Government for the decisions that were made about Franklin. I can understand that Franklin has had a period of uncertainty and now a period of change with the super-city, but I want to put on record that Labour did not support Franklin’s decision to have a unitary council, which was its preference. Labour is suggesting that it would have been fully behind Franklin, but it was not fully behind that proposal and did not support it. In effect, Pukekohe and the rest of Franklin would have been divided by the Waikato River boundary. Anyway, we are not talking about the super-city; we are here to talk about the challenge the Franklin District has with funding. The hard-working Local Government and Environment Committee came to the conclusion that this problem could not be solved by Parliament. When the bill was introduced in 2008, clearly a problem existed. However, times have moved on.

This Government is very effective in getting things done in partnership with the ACT Party and the Māori Party. We are firm believers in delivering for New Zealanders and the changes in Auckland are but one example of that. In effect, those changes mean we are not in a position to support this bill. There has clearly been a major restructuring of local government since its introduction. We do not believe that it is Parliament’s role to resolve the issue of the levies in this particular instance. I recognise the local member’s support, encouragement, and representation of his constituents.

TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki) Link to this

Mr Assistant Speaker, kia ora tātau. Kei te kōrero tātau mō tētahi pire e pā ana ki a Waikato, nō reira, nā runga i tērā whakaaro me huri ki te titiro ki te āhuatanga ki a Te Pō Nui, a Jim Nicholls e takoto mai rā i roto o Hauraki, i waenganui i tōna iwi i tēnei pō. Āpōpō, ka tukuna atu ki te kōpū o Papatūānuku. E aroha atu ana ki a ia, ko au tērā i mahi nei i tana taha. Kei te takoto a ia i runga i tōna marae i Mātaiwhetū i roto o Thames, o Hauraki. Ko ōna iwi ko Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Hako, me kī, ko Pare Hauraki, a Tainui waka, ērā e tangi ana.

Nā, ko Jim te Tiamana o te Kaunihera Kaumātua o Hauraki, tō rātou māngai hoki i runga i te Poari Kaitiaki Māori o Hauraki, tērā Poari o tōna iwi, ka mutu, ko ia te tiamana tuarua a te Kaunihera Māori o Aotearoa. Nō reira, e tika ana i tēnei wā kia tīmata ake waku kōrero hei wāwāhi ake i taku kōrero, ā, me te poroporoaki i a ia. Kai te pēnei tonu au nā runga i te mea, ko tēnei pire e hāngai tonu ki a Waikato. Nā reira, whakaaro ake ki a rātou kua ngaro atu ki te tirohanga kanohi. Ko ia tērā, anā tae atu ki a Te Atawhai Taiaroa, tērā o ngā pou o roto o Aotearoa. Nō reira, ā kāti, waiho rātou ki a rātou kia moe, anei tātau e kōrero nei mō te take nei.

I a au e whakaaro ake nei, kei te rere tonu ngā whakaaro mō te hunga utu rēti, me kī, o roto o Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāi Tai me ētahi atu wāhi o roto o Waikato. Ko tēnei pire, tētahi o ngā take kua roa, me kī, e wānangatia ana i roto i ngā Kāwanatanga i ngā tau kua hipa. E ai ki tāku e mōhio nei, ko te Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill i tae mai, i tīmata mai ai i te 13 o Here-turi-kōkā, arā, o Ākuhata i te tau 2008, ā, ka mutu, ka tukuna ki te komiti whāiti, arā, ki te select committee i te 4 o Poutū-te-rangi, Māehe i te tau 2009. E ai ki tāku e mōhio nei, e rua ngā wāhanga o te pire nei, me kī, ko tērā e pā ana ki te Auckland War Memorial Museum Acti te tau 1996, me te Whare Taonga the Museum of Transport and Technology Act i te tau2000. Ko te tikanga o tēnei, me kī, rāwekeweke i tēnei pire, me kī, ko te āta whakatau i te utu mō ngā whare taonga, me kī, kia kautehia nā runga i te tokomaha o te tangata e noho mai rā i roto o Franklin, otirā, te hunga kai roto i te rohe o Tāmaki-makau-rau, kaua ko rātou kei roto o Waikato.

Ēngari, i a au e kōrero ana ki aku hoa ki a Hone Harawira, ki a Pita Sharples, i puta te māramatanga ka mutu, ko tēnei take e hāngai tonu ana ki a Waikato, me kī, kua whakaara ake a Waikato i tēnei take ētahi o ngā iwi, ngā tāngata o Waikato i tēnei take o roto i tēnei pire. Nō reira, he pai tēnei kia tae mai ēnei momo pire, me ngā tono ā tēnā, ā tēnā, ā tēnā, ā tēna. Ka mōhio tonu te Pāremata, āe, he take nui tērā kai roto i te hapori. Nō reira, anei anō tētahi huarahi hei whakaara ake i te iwi i ō rātou whakaaro. Me kī, he māmā noa iho te tikanga o tēnei pire, he mea hai whakatau i ngā moni ka utua ki te Franklin District Council,ki te Auckland War Memorial Museum,me te Museum of Transport and Technology. Kai reira tonu tētahi wāhanga o te Rohe o Franklin. He uaua te whakamārama ake tēnei take i roto i te reo Māori nō reira, tērā pea me huri ki te reo Pākehā mō te wā poto.

[Greetings to us, Mr Assistant Speaker. We are addressing this bill that relates to Waikato, and because of that I turn to look at the situation concerning Te Pō Nui, Jim Nicholls lying in state tonight in Hauraki among his people. He will be buried in the womb of mother Earth tomorrow. I sympathise as I have worked with him. He lies upon his marae at Mātaiwhetū in Thames and Hauraki. His tribes are Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Hako of the Hauraki Gulf and of the Tainui canoe. They are grieving there.

Jim was the chairman of the Council of Elders of Hauraki, their representative on the Hauraki Māori Trust Board, his people’s board, and deputy chair of the New Zealand Māori Council. So it is fitting at this time that I preface my address by bidding him farewell. I have done this because this bill relates directly to Waikato. My thoughts are therefore with those who are no longer to be seen, including Te Atawhai Taiaroa, one of the pillars in New Zealand. So enough, leave them to rest there as we debate this matter.

As I ponder here, my thoughts immediately go to the ratepayers of Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāi Tai, and of other places in Waikato. This is one of those bills that have been the subject of prolonged discussions within Governments over past years. According to what I know, the Franklin District Council (Contribution to Funding of Museums) Amendment Bill arrived on 13 August 2008 and was referred to a select committee on 4 March 2009. I understand there are two parts to this bill. One refers to the Auckland War Memorial Museum Act 1996 and the other to the Museum of Transport and Technology Act 2000. It was to amend this legislation so that specific contributions could be made for the museums based on the population of people residing in Franklin, particularly those in the Auckland region but excluding the ones in Waikato.

But it was while I was discussing this with fellow colleagues Hone Harawira and the Hon Dr Pita Sharples that I realised that this matter did indeed relate to Waikato, because some of them raised this issue in this bill. So it is good that these kinds of bills come here with submissions from different individuals. Parliament will then know that, yes, that is an important issue in the community. So here is another way for people to express their views. This bill is simply the instrument whereby contributions are determined from the Franklin District Council to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. One part of the Franklin District is still there, but it is difficult to explain in Māori, so I will turn to English for a short time. ]

As others have said—and it is a bit difficult to explain clearly in Māori—the bill seeks to ensure that in calculating the levies payable by the Franklin District Council to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology, any part of the district of the Franklyn District Council that is not within the boundaries of the Auckland Regional Council is excluded.

My colleagues have told me of the frustration that many Franklin citizens shared with them as to why their hard-earned rates should go into Auckland facilities that do not have any direct relationship to their community. We noted the view of the North Shore City Council that this issue should be dealt with as a part of the Government’s comprehensive governance reform process for Auckland. At this stage of the reform process, it sees no reason to have interim or separate measures enacted. That might be all very well on paper, but the Māori Party has no confidence that the special interests of those within the boundaries of Franklin district will be addressed simply by leaving it to chance.

Kei te tino tautoko ake i tēnei pire nā runga i tana aronga ki tēnei momo uauatanga i roto i te pire i tēnei wā. We are pleased to support this bill as it addresses an apparent anomaly in the current legislation that covers the method of calculating the levies relating to the Auckland War Memorial Museum and the Museum of Transport and Technology. We note too that Federated Farmers view the present arrangements as inequitable on farmers and other rural landowners in the southern part of the Franklin district.

We believe it is vital that that local government authority has acknowledged mana whenua. Our policy preference is that local government will enhance the development of local and regional business; commercial partnerships between local and regional authorities; industries and business; and local whānau, iwi, and hapū. In order to do that, councils must know who is in their specific territorial region and who sits outside. For all those factors, and most particularly because of the wishes of the people, the Māori Party is happy to support the bill at its second reading.