06 November 2009

Hide comments put spotlight on next Auckland Council bill

 Controversy over recent claims by Local Government Minister  Rodney Hide that his reforms simply sail through Cabinet virtually unchallenged has turned the spotlight on the up-coming third Auckland Council bill, North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said today.

 “Since the spectacle of Rodney Hide’s extraordinary claim that his papers to Cabinet sail through because his fellow ministers “are too busy with their own stuff they're not bothered” and his subsequent retraction and apology, dozens of North Shore residents have told me they will be taking a close interest in the next Auckland Council bill to see if the Minister has slipped anything through under the radar,” Mayor Williams said.

 “The third Auckland Council bill, we are told, is due for introduction into Parliament soon and will provide for the on-going governance structure, functions, roles and the powers of the Council and the Local Boards, and will provide a detailed legislative framework for governance arrangements. These will include the highly vexed issue of development levies and the resourcing of community services.”

 “We can only hope that Rodney Hide was indeed telling porkies and that his Cabinet colleagues have paid particularly close attention to his Cabinet papers on these highly detailed, technical and controversial measures to be contained in the Bill.”

 “Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain, people will be going over the next bill with a fine tooth comb and will be holding the entire Cabinet to account if there are any surprises in the bill that have not been well signalled beforehand,” Mayor Williams said.  "There is a huge amount at stake here, affecting one third of New Zealand's population. I hope the people of Auckland, and the Cabinet, are not being hoodwinked on this whole restructutring of Auckland by this ACT Party minister, whose credibility is clearly being questioned this week."  

++ENDS