Alexander: Councils fixing Barnett's mess

Government MP Tim Barnett, the architect of the Prostitution Reform Act, should stop bullying local bodies that are "only trying to clean up the mess he made", United Future's Marc Alexander says.

Speaking in Parliament today, Mr Alexander asked Local Government Minister Chris Carter if he was embarrassed by Mr Barnett's recent attacks on the Auckland City Council for its implementation of the Act.

"According to Mr Barnett the idea of the Act is to minimise harm - but now that he's got the law through, supposedly giving local bodies the power to work in the best interests of the communities they serve, he's clearly determined to tell them off if they don't implement it in the way he wishes.

"This is simply ridiculous and his colleague Mr Carter needs to sit him down and talk him through the finer points of the autonomy of local government.

"It's time for Mr Barnett to sit down and shut up, because frankly, local bodies the length and breadth of New Zealand are now trying to do their best with a law they didn't ask for, in communities that don't want a bar of it," Mr Alexander said.

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