The Smell of Democracy on Fire

The country's leading community newspaper has taken the unprecedented step of taking its campaign against Auckland local body reorganisation to Parliament.

In a submission to the select committee considering the third bill covering the scheme, The Aucklander - winner of the Qantas Media Award as Best Community Newspaper for the past two years - claims that the forced merger of eight regional, city and district councils is "an affront to the citizens of Auckland".

Headlined "The Smell of Democracy on Fire", the paper quotes a Herald On Sunday poll of 1570 people. The survey showed 57 per cent would choose to remain with the existing councils while 43 per cent would opt for change.

Two-thirds of those surveyed said Aucklanders had been ignored and almost 71 per cent thought the changes had been rushed. Many opponents feared their local identity would be lost, while others felt more consultation was needed, and there was widespread concern about who was driving the changes.

The Aucklander's Editor, Ewan McDonald, and Chief Reporter, Edward Rooney, say the bill should restore provisions of the Local Government Act 2002 which were "outrageously overridden" by the Local Government (Tamaki Makaurau Reorganisation) Act 2009.

"That the people of Auckland should be denied the right to democratic local governance is unconscionable and despicable," they say.

Listing almost 20 areas in which it says the bill is flawed, The Aucklander asks the select committee to defer further reorganisation of the Auckland region until its citizens have been granted proper consultation and consideration.

The full submission is published on The Aucklander website - www.theaucklander.co.nz.

ENDS

© Scoop Media