Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill

Hon RODNEY HIDE (Minister of Local Government) Link to this

I move, That the Local Government (Auckland Reorganisation) Bill be now read a second time. The Government has considered the report of the Royal Commission into Auckland Governance, and it agrees with many of the report’s recommendations. These include the recommendation to create through legislation the Auckland Council as a single governing body for the Auckland region, a second tier of local boards to recognise local communities within the region, and the Auckland Transition Agency to effect the necessary changes. This urgent bill provides the necessary legislative mechanisms for transition to the new governance arrangements, which are required to be in place as early as possible. The bill will enable the Auckland Transition Agency to commence its work in designing and establishing the new structures, so that members of the Auckland Council and local boards can be elected at the October 2010 local government elections. The bill will also provide effective safeguards around the decisions and actions of existing local authorities in the Auckland region. These measures must be in place as soon as possible.

Let me remind the House why timing is so important. The Government has decided that the time for action has arrived. It will act now so that the Auckland Council will be up and working in November next year. In the time before then we must ensure that boundaries are set, local government elections are arranged, and candidates are in place. We cannot wait until the following year as the country leads into a general election and prepares to host the Rugby World Cup. We will not wait until 2013, 2016, or 2019—as the Labour Party appears to propose—as a longer time frame means too much uncertainty and disruption for council staff and the public. We have resolved to act now.

The bill establishes the Auckland Council and disestablishes the existing local authorities on and from 1 November 2010, it allows the Auckland Transition Agency to commence work towards having the transition to the new core arrangements significantly completed by the October 2010 local government elections, and it puts in place safeguards and constraints on decision making by existing Auckland local authorities and their subsidiaries.

I will give a brief explanation of the different components of the bill. Part 1 provides for preliminary matters including the bill’s background and purpose, and a general outline of its provisions. Part 2 establishes the Auckland Council. Its initial establishment under legislation will provide context and the directions for the transition agency to work towards in putting the new governance arrangements in place. This part does not come into force until 1 November 2010, that date being after the next local government elections. At these elections the citizens of Auckland will vote for the inaugural mayor and members of the Auckland Council. Once established, the council will assume the responsibilities, roles, powers, assets, and liabilities of the Auckland Regional Council and, of course, the seven territorial authorities in the Auckland region. Part 3 of the bill is concerned with the transitional arrangements that must be made in order for the Auckland Council to be ready to assume its role in late 2010. Accordingly, this part commences on the day after the bill receives the Royal assent.

Subpart 1 of Part 3 of the bill establishes the Auckland Transition Agency, which will be responsible for making arrangements to enable the Auckland Council to operate once it is established. This work will involve planning the council’s structure and operational arrangements and determining how the systems, plans, and policies of the existing local authorities and their subsidiaries will be integrated within that structure. The bill sets out in detail the roles and responsibilities of the transition agency. The transition agency will be a statutory entity and, given its short-term existence, will be named under the Public Finance Act. The transition agency will have an interim governing board appointed by the Minister of Local Government, and it will hold office only until the new council’s elected members take office. The transition agency will be disestablished when the Auckland Council comes into existence.

Subpart 2 of Part 3 sets out the obligations of the existing local authorities and other local government organisations during the transition period between the enactment of the bill and 1 November 2010. The bill requires that, in certain situations, the existing Auckland local authorities and their subsidiaries obtain the consent of the transition agency before implementing decisions. Such situations include decisions that may impact significantly on the reorganisation or the capacity of the Auckland Council, including the assets and the liabilities it will inherit. The bill also provides that existing local government organisations are required to cooperate with the transition agency in responding to requests for information and for the secondment of staff. Subpart 3 of Part 3 of the bill deals with miscellaneous matters relating to the setting up of the Auckland Council, including dissolution of the current local authorities and consequential amendments to other legislation.

The Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill, which is being introduced at the same time as this bill, provides the high-level framework for the structure of the Auckland Council, and establishes local boards. This other bill also provides powers for the Local Government Commission to determine the region’s electoral boundaries.

These bills focus on the transition period before the Auckland Council and local boards come into being on 1 November 2010. Much of the content of these bills will become redundant at that time, and will be repealed by Order in Council. A third bill, which we are expecting to introduce in October this year, will provide for the ongoing governance structure and for the detailed legislative framework of the governance arrangements.

This bill will enable work to get under way to shape the future of Auckland and New Zealand. It is imperative that this bill be enacted as soon as possible. I commend it to the House, and in particular to the Labour members, who must be interested, like Auckland and the rest of New Zealand, in the future of Auckland and in providing Auckland with the good governance it so desperately needs and so richly deserves.

Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Labour—New Lynn) Link to this

I move, That the motion be amended by omitting the word “now” and adding the words “this day 6 months” at the end of the question. We will table that amendment for the House.

Titirangi te maunga, Te Whau te awa, Waitakere te rohe.

[Titirangi is the mountain, Te Whau is the river, and Waitakere is the region.]

Waitakere is my city. I am here tonight with the voices of the vast majority of the 200,000 residents of Waitakere ringing in my ears. I know that they are standing behind me. Seventy-two percent of the people of Hobsonville—the Prime Minister’s own electorate—70 percent of all the citizens of Waitakere, and 62 percent of all Aucklanders oppose the moves that this Government is making.

Yes, the Government has the numbers to bulldoze this bill through the house, just as it is bulldozing 300-plus homes in Mount Albert. It will get the bill through the House, despite our best efforts. But the Government will pay for it at the next general election. As every local MP knows, when 250 people come out on a wet Monday night to a public meeting, or 1,000 people march in the streets at short notice, it means they care. When the hīkoi comes from the north, the south, and the west to central Auckland in the next week, all New Zealanders will know that the people have risen up against this anti-democratic move. The Government has shrewdly put the bill in the hands of Rodney Hide, a Minister who is not from the National Party, because he is expendable. If the heat gets too hot by the time of the next election, the Prime Minister will bounce from cloud to cloud, and the Minister will be left to carry part of the odium.

But it will not be enough to take away the anger of the 200,000 Waitakere residents who will say that those white men, who represent the interests of Remuera, have stolen their city. The member for Port Waikato, whose people of Franklin will desert him, said this is a bill to set Auckland up for the next 50 or 100 years. You bet it is! But it is not about making Auckland greater; it is about making Auckland bluer! It is about gerrymandering the Auckland Council; it is about stacking the deck with eight at-large councillors whom it will cost $250,000 to send a letter to every resident.