15 September 2009

 
Super city time bomb ticking from today

Rodney Hide’s super city time bomb set to explode grassroots democracy in New Zealand’s largest city started ticking today, North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said.

“Hearings on the Auckland Council Bill promised the Auckland public their big chance to have a say, yet the upshot is an all powerful super Auckland Council, a super Mayor with even more power than before, 20 to 30 completely powerless local boards with no statutory powers or resources in their own right, and no place for Maori at the table,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

“So after all the community effort to have their voices heard, and all the government’s contrived flip flops, back downs and Cabinet level tantrums, we are essentially back to square one.”

“It will only be a matter of time before communities realise that despite Rodney Hide’s lofty promises, their democratic right to decide local issues for their own local area now has passed to 20 Councillors in Queen Street who call all the shots.”

“There will certainly be a community backlash once local communities start approaching their new local boards for better services, only to be told that the best they can do is ‘advocate’ their case to the Auckland Council or to try to ‘plead’ their case for inclusion in the next Auckland Council LTCCP or annual plan, provided they can secure the funding and there are no regional issues at play.”

“Rodney Hide’s top-down super city master plan that is supposed to last 100 years will explode in a shower of criticism in 100 weeks, and as is the Kiwi way, people of good faith will step forward to make the fundamental changes necessary to restore local democratic decision making and self determination to local communities.”

“Sadly, all of this trauma and upheaval could have been avoided had the government chosen to listen to the public and their thoughtful submissions, instead of signing up to Rodney Hide’s extreme, winner-takes-all, right wing agenda for Auckland,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

Mayor Andrew Williams said it is worth reminding the people of Auckland what the new revised Auckland Council Bill, designed to “empower local communities”, actually says behind all the government spin and double-speak, because it simply makes local boards “responsible and democratically accountable” for:

·        non-regulatory activities “allocated” by the Auckland Council, and

·        “identifying and communicating the interests and preferences of people” to the Auckland Council, and

·        “proposing” local bylaws for their local board area to the Auckland Council.

Local boards will be allowed to compete for funding from the Auckland Council to “enhance the well-being” of their local communities, provided every other local board gets roughly the same amount.

“In reality, the community second-tier of local government in greater Auckland remains a series of talk shops with government-provided begging bowls, and taxi chits to get them to Queen Street,” Mayor Andrew Williams said.

ENDS

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