Minister’s appointment of Auckland Transport CCO directors undemocratic

12 March 2010

ARC Chairman Mike Lee said today that Transport Minister Steven Joyce’s imposition of an Auckland Transport Council Controlled Organisation (CCO) is now seriously undermining the whole concept of unified and strengthened local government for Auckland.

Mr Lee and the ARC, which had until recently been a staunch supporter of the Super City reforms, is now saying the determination of Steven Joyce to impose a mega-sized and unaccountable transport bureaucracy on Auckland is making a joke of the so-called “Super City”.

“One has to ask what on earth is going on when a Transport Minister who has no local government responsibilities can co-opt the whole Auckland Super City process.

“Auckland Transport will be spending more than half the rates paid by Aucklanders – starting at around $680 million and rising every year– with virtually zero accountability.

“Mr Joyce is also pre-empting the parliamentary select committee (chaired by his colleague the Associate Minister for Local Government John Carter) before it has completed its deliberations, and reported back to the Government. This is extraordinary behaviour,” said Mr Lee.

“The Minister is now in the media trying to justify why he will be appointing directors to the Auckland Transport CCO board without any democratic process. Deliberately or otherwise, he is missing the point.

“Aucklanders are not interested in hearing the Minister’s justifications about why he personally has to make the appointments. The point is we don’t want a bar of his transport bureaucracy – period.”

Mr Lee said the arguments from the Minister justifying CCOs also overlook two important points:

* CCOs work best for revenue earning council activities – but transport services are not a business. They do not make money. Instead they spend public money and vast amounts of it. This activity therefore needs to be under the closest possible public accountability and scrutiny, not at arms length and working in secret.

* “CCO” is also a complete misnomer in this case as Auckland Transport will not in any sense of the word by “controlled” by a Council. It will be a creature of the Minister of Transport and controlled by the Government. Aucklanders will have very little say in what is the most important infrastructure challenge for Auckland of our times.

“The Minister’s behaviour shows the Government is not listening to Aucklanders’ concerns about CCOs and has already made up its mind,” said Mr Lee. “The Super City and its new undemocratic super transport bureaucracy is being imposed on Auckland by the Minister against the advice of other Government departments.

“The whole Super City process is being subverted and Auckland ratepayers will pay the price. Auckland will end up weaker not stronger.”

ENDS

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