June 25, 2009

Media Release (For Immediate Release)

Waitakere Submission Off To Select Committee

Waitakere City Council has unanimously approved its submission to the Select Committee on Auckland Governance.

Some key aspects of Waitakere’s submission are:

• All Auckland Council members should be elected from wards (there should be no ‘at large’ representation other than the Mayor);

• There should be six wards for the election of 20 Auckland Councillors, with each ward electing a number of Councillors that is proportional to the population within the ward;
• The Mayor, and all Auckland Council and local board members, should be elected for a four year term using the STV voting system;
• Maori representation on the Auckland Council and throughout local government in New Zealand is supported, with the method and level to be determined by the Government;
• Local boards should be renamed as ‘Community Councils” and they should be empowered to make decisions on local issues.
• The legislation should ensure that sufficient funding and resources are provided to he Community councils (local boards) by the Auckland Council;
• The number of local boards should be between 12 and 20;
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Mayor Bob Harvey says Waitakere, along with other Councils, does not oppose the concept of re-organisation in Auckland. “The region faces massive problems and challenges, particularly in the areas of public transport, regional planning and so on,” he says.

“But there is a real risk that the Government throws the baby out with the bathwater and simply takes away the power of local communities to determine what is important to them.”

Waitakere’s submission states: “The Bill does not match the innovation of the bold move to a one City-Region and thus runs the risk of not delivering the gains that purportedly drive this reform.”

“Basically if local boards are not given sufficient powers and functions to deliver locally then the Auckland Council will get bogged down and will not be able to concentrate on the major regional issues,” says Mayor Harvey. “Local boards must be able to make real decisions in consultation with their communities, not just follow prescribed orders.”

Waitakere’s deputy mayor, Penny Hulse, points to recent, independent, polls which show the majority of Aucklanders are against to the Government’s plans.
“We can only hope that the select committee genuinely listens to the logic of the arguments we are putting forward and also takes account of the huge weight of public opinion that is against these proposals,” she says.

She says the submission looks closely at the purpose of the proposed Community Councils (Local Boards). “If the Government gets that wrong and effectively neuters local democracy they Auckland will go backwards,” she says.

“The balance has to be struck between the Auckland Council setting policy and vision and the local Councils delivering what their residents want and need.”
Ends

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