16 September 2013

Auckland Mayoral candidate: when can I see the Unitary Plan?

“I’m supposed to be competing for the Mayoralty for Auckland, and I can’t even see the details of the single most important document of the campaign. What on earth is going on?” said John Palino.

“Voting ballots will be mailed on September 20, but voters – and non-incumbent candidates – won’t be able to see the Unitary Plan until September 30. This is incredible!

“We live in a representative democracy. That’s the justification for politicians from one part of the region making decisions about the house and garden preferences of residents in a different part of the region.

“The basis on which this kind of decision making is permitted is that every three years voters get to have their say about their local representatives.

“But Aucklanders are being denied this fundamental right; many voters will have returned their voting slips before they, or those on the campaign trail, have even had a chance to see the materialisation of Len Brown’s agenda for Auckland.

“How can this be legal? How can this be ethical?

“The Unitary Plan is the most significant document for Auckland in living memory. It is going to transfer local decision making and property rights away from communities. It’s going to lock in Len Brown’s direction for our communities.

“It’s been approved by a number of representatives who will be out of a job even as the document passes its first legal hurdle, because their electorates are so outraged by the contents of this plan.

“And yet somehow it is still constitutional for the plan to be notified moments before an election has finished, but well after it’s started.

“For the first time since becoming a politician, I’m speechless,” Palino said.

ENDS

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