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Unitec hosts forum around Auckland’s controversial Super City

A series of panel discussions around the impending Auckland Super City and how to maximise the benefits of this momentous change will be hosted by Unitec Institute of Technology during July and August.

Rod Oram, business journalist, commentator and adjunct professor at Unitec’s Department of Management and Marketing, will facilitate the series of discussions.

The three-evening Unitec Forum for the Future series entitled “Super City – Win or Lose?” has attracted some of the country’s top local government experts as panelists who will get an opportunity to inform the studio and online audience about the pros and cons of having the Super City.

Panelists include the Chairman of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, Peter Salmon and Waitakere City Council Mayor Bob Harvey, Unitec academics and students.

The discussions are the second Unitec Forum for the Future series that Unitec has organised. The first was held in October 2009 to stimulate discussion around the goal of raising New Zealand’s GDP to equal Australia’s by 2025.

The focus of each forum is tackled in a series of three lively 90-minute panel-style debates bringing together community and business leaders, academics and students in front of a live audience.

The Unitec Forum for the Future: Super City – Win or Lose? will be held over three evenings – 20 and 27 July and  3 August from 5pm- 7pm at Unitec’s Mt Albert campus in Auckland.

It will examine the process of making Auckland the Super City, how the process of getting there is going and what must be done to ensure the new system works.

“The second Unitec Forum for the Future aims to stimulate thinking and debate on how we can make the new Super City structure work for the community of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole,” says Rod Oram.

“We will seek to help our live audience and online users who have tuned in, to understand why the current system needed to be changed and how the new system has the opportunity to give Auckland vision and momentum,” he says.

The 20 July forum will look at the Why? “What’s the case for creating a Super City? Why do we need to change regional governance structures to do so?” The 27 July forum will consider the What? – What can we do to make the new system perform at its best for the people of Auckland and New Zealand?  The 3 August session will consider the How? How can we make the new systems perform at its best for the people of Auckland and New Zealand?

Associate Professor and Head of Unitec’s Department of Management and Marketing, Robert Davis says the forum offers a great opportunity for panelists, students, guests and the live audience to engage in a lively debate about the challenges we face in making Auckland the Super City.

“We will tackle issues in setting up a Super City including concerns that the Maori and Pacific Island voice has so far been ignored and sidelined which is not reflective of the Government’s position on this,” he says.

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