The third super city bill has now been tabled in the House and is due to get its second reading on Thursday.
It’s a two-fingered salute to Aucklanders who have been calling on the Government to re-think its plan to corporatise Auckland local government. John Key and Rodney Hide have said NO to the two big things Aucklanders have been asking for: the Bill fails to guarantee real powers for local boards, and it continues the Government’s plan to shift three-quarters of operations into council-owned companies.
Rodney Hide and John (Sancho Panza) Carter will try and say they’ve listened to Aucklanders’ concerns. But this is a massive con job. The bill gives the green light to corporatisation.
- Making these new council companies publish a glossy brochure and hold a press conference every three months and calling it ‘accountability’ is an insult to Aucklanders.
- A majority of the initial directors are going to be appointed by Rodney Hide.
- The Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) are going to be so big and so powerful it will be difficult for the Council and mayor to hold them accountable.
Every other Council in New Zealand gets to choose whether or not any part of their operations are corporatised. Why not Auckland?
Worse still, the powerful Transport Agency which will spend more than half of all rates, is a statutory CCO meaning that central government will have to change the law before the Auckland Council could bring it back in house. Four government departments including Treasury advised against corporatising transport because they said it would reduce the transparency and accountability to ratepayers.
In spite of John Carter’s soothing tones at the select committee, the Government has once again ignored the majority of submitters who said they wanted to see the powers of local boards guaranteed in law.
Is it any wonder 52.7 per cent of respondents in a recent Herald digipoll said a single Auckland Council would be worse for them and only 31.2 per cent said it would be better?
You can read Labour’s Minority Report on the bill here.
Cruddyville
Run by who knows 
If these comments on the Herald site are any indication, there are some very grumpy Aucklanders out there http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644845
Dont the changes include the Council have the power to dump government appointed directors fromt he CCO’s?
Phil, none of thepeople commenting at your link are commenting on today’s announced changes?
Yep. Hide argued for weeks that they already had the power to get rid of the initial directors, but the amended bill makes that explicit.
Tracey 2.32 – I’m sorry. You are right. They are talking more generally about the super city.
A massive con job alright. In fact, Rortney Hide could give Bernie Madoff lessons on con jobs.
Thanks Phil. It’s a good thing the Council can get rid of the govt appointed directors, assuming those directors haven’t irreversibly made decisions before they can be removed?
How gullible people are …. they expect to be listened to and changes to be made … this rarely happens be it national or local government, left or right wing.
Meanwhile Aucklanders get ready for new local government they have waited years for, and opposition politicians continue to moan, bitch, look backwards and if I read correctly, introduce private members bills to remove Rodney District from the Auckland Region.
Hello, is anyone listening?
The Auckland Council is but months away and you are arguing over the rats and mice while the big fish swim away in the distance.
Time is moving on folks, and might I suggest you move with it.
March..! March I say..!
Up Queen St to Myers Park..! I’ve marched 3 times this year, lets make it 4..!
I’d like to know which Labour MP has agreed to introduce Rodney District Council’s private member’s bill? Mayor Penny Webster (and ex-Act MP) has been reported in the Herald as saying the Labour Party is throwing its support behind it. This is madness! Please, please don’t believe the Mayor’s spiel about there being strong support from locals. The Council only surveyed 1200 people.
The Herald can’t even get its facts right and reported that it’s only the Northern part of the District that the Bill seeks to exclude from Auckland City.
While I support the Northern-most rural areas merging with Kaipara District, if Labour puts its support behind the entire Rodney District becoming a unitary authority you can kiss my vote goodbye.
” … there are some very grumpy Aucklanders out there”
Yep. Like Larry Williams.
Phil
It does seem you and others have had something of a victory, with the shift to chair and deputy chair to be Council/Mayor appointed?
Also the Waterfront development agency is gone?
Is there devil in the detail, can you clarify why you are still not happy, if you are?
“The cost of setting up the Auckland Super City has risen to $112 million after a blowout in costs incurred by the agency merging the eight existing councils into one.
The Government provided an additional $36.9 million in last week’s Budget to the Auckland Transition Agency to provide critical services for the Auckland Council to be up and running on November 1.
The agency initially set a budget of $34.4 million for the period up until October 31, but wildly underestimated implementation costs, such as information technology and systems to separate transport functions into a mega-council controlled organisation.
The $71.3 million loan from the Crown to the agency must be repaid by Auckland ratepayers by November next year.
On top of of the agency’s soaring bill, the cost of setting up a mega-water company is $26.5 million and the region’s existing councils have spent or budgeted a further $14.2 million.
The councils’ costs and setting up Watercare Services have been funded out of current budgets.
Local Government Minister Rodney Hide gave no inkling of the cost blowout by the agency in an Official Information Act response on “the costs of setting up the new Auckland Council” to the Herald on April 21.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10647282
Tracey, Hide has continually ducked questions on the cost of the transition. The reason must be pretty clear, now. It’s not a ‘good look’ for the ‘Minister for Ratepayers’ to have dropped a likely $200m debt on Auckland ratepayers, likely to be $400m with interest over the term of the financing – and keep his image intact. Much like his former ‘perk-buster’ image, it is all smoke and mirrors. Just because the Herald has declared victory today, does not mean the super city is now democratic.
Jennifer, a report to be presented at the full Council mtg this Thursday states that Rodney District’s costs for the transition come in at just under $2.5 million (as at 2 May). I would’ve assumed other Councils are reporting their transition costs in a similarly transparent manner? Or maybe making those figures public is part of a cunning plan by Rodney’s Mayor and CEO to make the unitary authority option more attractive?
I seem to recall a Herald article last year? that showed Rodney has one of the highest debt commitments of all the Councils in the Auckland region. We have a low rating base so if Rodney breaks away and becomes a unitary authority, it’ll be a free-for-all for developers. MULs be damned! I’d rather Rodney District take its chances with the Super City and remain “Auckland’s playground”.
Just think, the govt wanted to put RadioNZ through the hoops to try and save a measy $3mill. Meanwhile ATA is allowed to blow the budget by 200%, even before we start thinking about the costs of office relocations, redundancies and half a dozen other major issues. Do you think teh audotor general can have a look at this?
@ Kaukapakapa 8.39pm – Darien Fenton is the Labour MP who has offered to sponsor the local bill if none of the National electorate MPs in Rodney (Lockwood Smith, John Carter) are willing to do this customary duty. While Labour’s position is to support the Royal Commission boundaries that would include Rodney in a unified Auckland, we are willing to support this local bill to select committee so people can air their views. We are taking this step because the decision making on Rodney’s inclusion has been such a fiasco, and the people of Rodney have been treated with such contempt by this government.
@ Tracey 7:49 – They have made some minor concessions in response to the overwhelming public opposition. But they are still corporatising 75% of local government. Still no guarantee of real decision making powers for local boards. Hide is still appointing the majority of initial directors. They are still corporatising transport against the advice of four govt departments who said it would be less accountable and transparent to ratepayers than if it were run in house – like it is in every other city in NZ. The Herald thinks it is time to claim victory and move on – I don’t.
Thanks for the explanation Phil but I don’t think Rodney ratepayers (Northern Action Group excluded) have been treated any less contemptibly by the Govt than other Aucklanders.
How long will it take for this bill to get to select committee, and can you guarantee it will be reported back to Parliament and passed into legislation before October? There must be a quicker and less costly way to find out what the majority of Rodney ratepayers want. What about the submissions residents have already made to the select committee on Auckland Governance?
The bill “defers the general election for Rodney District Council for 1 year. The terms of office of existing members will continue until October 2011, when a general election will be held.” Mayor Webster can’t have it both ways – she’s standing for a seat on the new Council but if Rodney breaks away, she will continue on as Rodney’s Mayor? And what about the hundreds of Rodney Council staff who I assume will be appointed to new roles before October/November? Imagine losing all that local knowledge to the new Council and having to start from scratch again.
My personal opinion is that Rodney District Council has left its run too late, being part of the new Auckland Council is the lesser of two evils, and that Labour will be doing us a great disservice if Darien sponsors this bill.
Thanks Phil, I guess from my cursory reading I see some satisfaction in being able to remove them (Mayor/Council) if Rodney makes appointments abhorrent to the Council.
CCO’s per se arent a problem, because Labour was also ok withthese? It’s the governance, process. I DO get that.
KKK,
You are obviously passionate about doing the best for your local community. The problem is not the boundaries (though I do see an argument for including Wellsford and Port Albert in Kaipara), but the ridiculous way local interests are about to subjugated to CBD-based corporate interests.
Think about it. The huge area that encompasses rural Rodney will represented by one councillor and a five member Local Board. None of those people will be able to help you though when your drain blocks or your road starts subsiding. You will have to ring some engineer in town who might be able to refer you to their secretary who might send someone out in 6 months time. In that respect- everybody will have the same problem as you.