18 May 2009

North Shore City Council expresses ‘no confidence’ in Local Government Commission appointment

North Shore City Council’s Strategy & Finance Committee today formally expressed no confidence in the appointment of Grant Kirby, a former chairman of the One Auckland Trust, to the Local Government Commission with special responsibility for liaison between the Commission and the newly established Auckland Transition Authority.

It also formally put on notice North Shore’s grave concerns that this latest appointment removed the one and only South Island representative on the three person Local Government Commission.

“Our Council believes the appointment by the Local Government Minister of Grant Kirby to this crucial role undermines and compromises the independence of the Local Government Commission which, under legislation pushed through Parliament under urgency last weekend, has the role of setting the boundaries for the new Auckland Council wards and for the new local boards, and setting the number of members on each local board,” says North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams.

“With Grant Kirby’s track record of fervent advocacy for the One Auckland “super city” model it is inconceivable that he is now able to assume an independent quasi-judicial role around these very same issues.”

“When chairman of the One Auckland Trust back in 2006, Grant Kirby described concerns over their super city plan as “needless scaremongering” and said that “an Act of Parliament could create a new unitary authority to govern Auckland and have it up and running within 18 months to two years. That unitary authority could combine the governance roles of the seven local authorities and the regional council.” Sound familiar?”

“Grant Kirby also argued stridently against a ward based electoral system, an issue he how must liaise with and consult the public over, and will have a hand in determining. Yet we are now expected to believe that we will get a fair and impartial hearing from him.”

“In a further move that casts an ominous shadow over the Auckland Council transition phase, the government has today postponed the appointment of the members of the new Auckland Transition Authority. It is quite clear that one or more of the up to five nominees put forward by Rodney Hide was not acceptable to the cabinet, and hence the delay in the announcement. The Local Government Minister has put forward his “preferred pet people”, and obviously some do not pass muster with the John Key government. Perhaps they simply were too much in Rodney’s ACT camp for the National cabinet to stomach”.

“These latest postponed appointments follow on closely the embarrassing Christine Rankin appointment controversy, so it is abundantly obvious that there are concerns in the inner sanctum as to the integrity of the proposed appointments. Rodney Hide’s appointment of Grant Kirby to the Local Government Commission at this crucial and delicate stage, and his appointment to the liaison role between the Commission and the Auckland Transition Authority is a mistake of the highest order. We are forever hopeful that the key appointments to the Auckland Transition Authority will be based on candidates having exceptional professional organisational skills, local government knowledge and independent wise governance judgement that can be offered to the important role of overseeing the restructuring of Auckland’s governance. These cannot be appointments of “blatantly biased partisans” who will be controlled and manipulated by the Minister in order to deliver his ultra right wing ACT Party agenda.” says Mayor Williams.

“In Grant Kirby’s case the government has seriously misjudged this appointment, which if left to stand could tarnish the reputation and compromise the independence of the Local Government Commission in its important work.”

++ENDS

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