Auckland Governance

The two major parties, National and Labour have agreed on several major issues:

1. One council, one mayor and one plan for greater Auckland.

2. Local boards with powers to enable them to:
• fund community initiatives and promote social cohesion at a local level
• make decisions on local services and place-shaping that reflect character and preferences of local community

3. Provide input into regional decisions, eg LTCCPS, district plans, regional transport strategies, dog control and
gambling licensing

4. All councillors will be elected from wards with none “at large”.

The main points where National and Labour differ are:

1. Maori-only seats
Labour believes there should be separate Maori seats; National does not.

2. Local boards
National wants 20 – 30 boards while Labour wants 14-20. The reason that National wants 20 – 30 boards is to give areas like Papakura its own board. By having fewer boards, the representation will be less local.

3. Wards
Multi member wards are favoured by National. Labour wants these limited to 2 members per ward.

4. Councillors
National believes there should be 20 councillors on the Auckland Council; Labour believes there should be 25.

5. Mayoral powers
National believes that the Mayor should have the power to appoint the Deputy Mayor and Committee chairs. Labour believes that these should be decided by the council.

6. Voting system
National believes First Past the Post should be the voting system while Labour believes that we should have a Single Transferable Vote system.

7. Pacific and Asian Advisory Boards
Labour wanted these enshrined in legislation. National believes these should be for Council to decide.

8. Southern Boundaries
Labour believes the Auckland City should extend to the Waikato River while National believes it should finish a little after Pukekohe.

Although there were many submissions from Papakura against joining the greater Auckland City, no party in Parliament supported that. It does not seem logical for Pukekohe to be included but Papakura to not be included.

I have been very concerned to get the best deal for Papakura that I could. With the greater number of local boards and the enhanced powers, a lot of the concerns raised have now been addressed.

When National came to government, we inherited the problem of Auckland governance. The Royal Commission model called for only 6 boards with Papakura being part of Manukau. We have produced a model that retains Papakura and keeps local issues local. Under the Royal Commission or the Labour proposal, Papakura would have been merged into Manukau.

ENDS

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