29 July 2009

Key silent on ‘at large’ councillors despite overwhelming public opposition

Prime Minister John Key revealed on Monday that electing councillors to the new Auckland Council ‘at large’ rather than from wards is still on the table, North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams said.

“In his speech to the Local Government conference, John Key specifically mentioned two issues that had provoked much discussion; what powers the local boards have, and how councillors on the unitary authority are elected – either at large or through a ward-based system,”Mayor Williams said.

“John Key then went on to say that he expects to see “a second tier with beefed-up powers that reflect the diverse communities they serve” which will be reassuring to the thousands of people who want to see the local community councils given genuine powers, functions and resources to deliver local services.”

“It is significant that John Key reassured the public over empowering the community councils but remained deathly silent on the issue of electing councillors to the new Auckland Council ‘at large’ and provided no reassurance to the public that the idea has been dropped. This is a very serious omission by the Prime Minister and must be ringing alarm bells all across the region.”

“A Colmar Brunton poll earlier this month showed that 80 percent of North Shore ratepayers agree that all of the councillors on the new Auckland Council should be elected by people in their local area by ward rather than elected by people across the whole region at large.”

“I understand that John Key is under enormous pressure from the Auckland City power brokers to stick with their plan to have ‘at large’ councillors, despite the overwhelming opposition from the public, and he now needs to make it clear whose side he is on, the power brokers or the people,” Mayor Williams said.

Mayor Williams said the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee, which has just concluded hearing public submissions on this issue, is due to report back to parliament by Friday 4 September.

“If John Key remains silent on the issue of ward versus at large councillors, we will have to wait until the committee reports back to parliament to find out whether the power brokers or the public have won out and who the government has chosen to side with,” Mayor Williams said.

Mayor Williams said it was perhaps less than a coincidence that Rodney Hide’s mentor, Sir Roger Douglas, told the committee in his oral submission that the super city council should resemble a board of directors of a large company and should be made up of a Mayor and eight councillors elected at large.

ENDS

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