Aucklanders are communicating loud and clear with the select committee on the super city which is now into its third day of hearings. Assuming these three days are somewhat representative of opinion across the city, and bear in mind the committee has been sitting in central Auckland and is yet to move around the cities and districts, a number of themes are emerging:
1. People are grumpy about the rushed process.
2. Rodney Hide’s toothless local boards are getting the big thumbs down. People want community councils with the powers and resources to carry out local tasks. Many have argued for the principle of subsidiarity, that is that unless there is a sound reason for putting a task at the top level then it should be done at the second tier. There is quite a range of opinion on the question of how many community councils there should be.
3. Of the individual submitters a strong majority are in favour of all councillors being elected from wards, as opposed to at-large councillors.
4. Most submitters in favour of special Maori representation. (A sub-committee is spending several days hearing submissions on marae but Maori submitters can also choose to address the full committee.)
5. Many submitters in favour of STV as the voting system especially for the mayor but many arguing for it across the board.
6. Particularly from individual submitters, a lot of scepticism about the proposed package of mayoral powers and the ’strong mayor’ model.
7. And although not everyone keen on my member’s bill requiring a referendum before any assets are sold, a strong common view in favour of keeping local government assets in public ownership.
There is plenty of argument and opposing views as you’d imagine. But I have to say it is heartening listening to so many thoughtful and heartfelt submissions by people who care passionately about our democracy. The powerful current coming through from individual submitters today is people wanting a strong local voice, and wanting their politicians to be accountable (not elected at-large, fewer powers for the mayor). Good democratic impulses I’d say.
The Nats are signalling they are ready to move towards empowered community councils. It will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure on Maori representation and at large v.ward-based councillors.
Oh good sounds like a lot of people saying similar stuff to what was in my submission.
See you at 8pm tonight Phil. Hopefully you guys are still awake!
Phil,
Glad to see people are supporting STV. I don’t understand why NZers are attracted to it. I my opinion it turns elections into lotteries.
Also, saw the ARC proposal for community boards. Does anyone feel it is inequitable that wealthy, small communities like Devonport and Waiheke Island get their own board whereas the rest of use have live with community boards which cover huge areas. I don’t see why Wellsford or Port Albert or even Browns Bay or Orewa for example should be any less deserving of their own Board. I would expect quite a lot of comment on this once you get out of Auckland Central
Sorry typo in my last post. Meant to say “I don’t see why so many people in NZers are attracted to FFP voting. In my opinion, it turns elections into lotteries.”
Hope STV gets thumbs up as it is a great system and much fairer than FPP.
Not just that, it’s also confusing as hell. Some local board areas match up with ward boundaries but some don’t, some wards are split, some aren’t. Some wards and local board boundaries seem to follow electorate boundaries, but some don’t, or some do in bits but not elsewhere.
Ward boundaries MUST match local board boundaries. The ONLY exception to this is the Gulf Islands, which are a special case. Both ward boundaries and local board boundaries should also match up with electorate boundaries as much as possible. One of the reasons why people don’t engage in local government is because they get confused by it. People should have an obvious local councillor, local board and local MP. That will lead to better political engagement and therefore better outcomes.
Good to see you there today at my submission Phil. Some of those opposite you didn’t look like they would make it to 9pm!
I really think that the changes in the past have failed as they have moved away from local engagement of people in their governance.
The bill as proposed goes further in this direction, I can imagine the only engagement with local govt. in the future will be the protest movements when it goes too far.
Do keep us up with the mood of the submissions.
Brian, appreciated your submission. Its been a pretty good day actually. Good to see the will of the people being expressed. It will be fascinating to see how the Government responds.
Just quickly, how does STV affect a single-seat election such as for mayor? Is it if the highest ranked candidate does not get to 50% after 1st preference votes are counted, the second preferances are counted, and so on?
I have just never heard of it and do not quite see how it would work.
Feedback was interesting to hear. I am definitely concerned about the powers of the mayor in this model.
Wellington mayoralty and councillors have been elected by STV for a few years now. I think it is more or less as you describe except votes from lowest polling candidate are redistributed upwards and repeated until one candidate gets over 50%. Calculated by computer so doesn’t take long.
I think STV for single candidates is basically a series of rounds where the lowest polling candidate is knocked out and the votes for them passed on. Could work well I think.
I found the whole submission process quite fun, although it would have been nice to have a bit more time I didn’t feel too rushed and didn’t have to curtail anything I said too much. Even John Carter seemed to agree with my logic in putting the whole thing to a referendum!
Just one question Phil, what’s the book all you guys had in front of you about village building or something? It looks really interesting.
jarbury – it was from a submitter called Claude Lewenz of Waiheke who is part of Village Towns http://www.villageforum.com You are welcome to borrow my copy if you want.
I might take you up on that once the hearings are over Phil
In my submission I suggested community board aras should be based on popular demand and which area people suggest they should belong to so it creates proper commumities of interest. I live on Waiheke Island and you can’t get a more “natural” community than that. I’m looking forward to get a board with teeth and cash.
Regards Auckland Councillors, election should be based on party or ticket lists, with strict proportionality for 50 seats (2% threshold). That way you vote for policies instead of personalities and separate Maori seats are unnecessary too.
Maynard J,
STV for a single position (like Mayor in Wellington) is a straight preferential vote.
The lowest ranked candidates are knocked out one by-one and their votes allocated to the voters’ next preference until someone crosses the 50% threshold.
[...] the last few months of the super city debate, and the last four days of select committee hearings on the super city bill, it has been clear to me that Aucklanders fear the super city may [...]