Auckland Governance
Auckland Governance
The two major parties, National and Labour have agreed on several major issues:
1. One council, one mayor and one plan for greater Auckland.
2. Local boards with
powers to enable them to:
• fund
community initiatives and promote social cohesion at a local
level
• make decisions on local
services and place-shaping that reflect character and
preferences of local community
3.
Provide input into regional decisions, eg LTCCPS, district
plans, regional transport strategies, dog control and
gambling licensing
4. All councillors will be elected from wards with none “at large”.
The main points where National and Labour differ are:
1. Maori-only seats
Labour believes there
should be separate Maori seats; National does not.
2. Local boards
National
wants 20 – 30 boards while Labour wants 14-20. The reason
that National wants 20 – 30 boards is to give areas like
Papakura its own board. By having fewer boards, the
representation will be less local.
3.
Wards
Multi member wards are favoured by National.
Labour wants these limited to 2 members per ward.
4.
Councillors
National believes there should be 20
councillors on the Auckland Council; Labour believes there
should be 25.
5. Mayoral
powers
National believes that the Mayor should have the
power to appoint the Deputy Mayor and Committee chairs.
Labour believes that these should be decided by the
council.
6. Voting
system
National believes First Past the Post should be
the voting system while Labour believes that we should have
a Single Transferable Vote system.
7.
Pacific and Asian Advisory Boards
Labour wanted these
enshrined in legislation. National believes these should be
for Council to decide.
8.
Southern Boundaries
Labour believes the Auckland City
should extend to the Waikato River while National believes
it should finish a little after Pukekohe.
Although there were many submissions from Papakura against joining the greater Auckland City, no party in Parliament supported that. It does not seem logical for Pukekohe to be included but Papakura to not be included.
I have been very concerned to get the best deal for Papakura that I could. With the greater number of local boards and the enhanced powers, a lot of the concerns raised have now been addressed.
When National came to government, we inherited the problem of Auckland governance. The Royal Commission model called for only 6 boards with Papakura being part of Manukau. We have produced a model that retains Papakura and keeps local issues local. Under the Royal Commission or the Labour proposal, Papakura would have been merged into Manukau.
ENDS