I presented my submission to the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee last night, which was quite fun. Everyone on the committee seemed to think that my submission was very thorough and well though out – and hopefully it might have some effect on what comes out of the whole process. Essentially I detailed the following (these are my notes):
• Submission supports in principle the idea of a single Council for Auckland.
• I also support the idea of a more local level of government than what was proposed by the Royal Commission.
• However, I do consider the Bill has many critical flaws – my submission has attempted to outline those flaws and provide suggested alternatives. I will briefly discuss those issues.
Overall Structure
• Particular concern about the effects of losing the role that the ARC plays.
• I consider the ARC to play a significant role as an “environmental advocate” within the region, when making submissions on plans, plan changes and resource consent applications.
• The ARC is also the safeguard of the MUL, what I consider to be Auckland’s most important planning tool. Who will safeguard the MUL once the ARC doesn’t exist? Who will play the environmental advocacy role?
Section 8:
• In my opinion section 8 is fundamentally flawed. Having eight at-large councillors will not lead to proper representation. History shows that before the ward system Auckland City Council was dominated by those from the eastern suburbs.
• The at-large councillors will also be confusing in that voters will choose 8 people from a potential list of 40-50. Not very robust.
• Strange to have ward boundaries that don’t match the local board boundaries. I am worried that creating an overly complex system will further alienate people from local government and lead to even lower voter turnout.
• I also think that boundaries should match up with electorates. This would further create a simple governance structure that people can relate to and make sense of: ie. you would have an obvious local MP, local councillor and local board for your area.
Sections 10-17: Local Boards:
• In my opinion local boards should play a significant role in local government. They are the easiest way for people to participate in the democratic process and the organisations that have the most potential to truly reflect their local communities.
• The legislation as proposed would have the local boards as little more than lobby groups. I do not think this should be the case – and I think the local boards should have real power to provide services for their communities.
• The local board should sit somewhere between the power of a current community board and that of a District Council. There should be an assumption that a service be provided by the local board unless there is a good reason for it to be provided by the Auckland Council – the opposite of what is currently proposed in the legislation.
• In my opinion local boards should not simply be unincorporated bodies – as they are described in Section 11. They should have a standing that is enshrined in this legislation and potentially also in the Local Government Act (if that is required).
• Local boards should be allowed (and encouraged) to own property and hire staff. It is only by doing this will these local boards truly become relevant organisations with the ability to carry out their functions.
• Local boards should be able to set the priorities for their area, and the Auckland Council should be required to give effect to those priorities. If this is not possible then the local board should be able to raise their own funds for specific projects via a targeted rate. Local boards should be able to decide how they spend the money allocated to them by the Auckland Council.
Voting System:
• In my opinion the Single-Transferable Vote system should be used for mayoral, Auckland Council and Local Board elections. The STV system provides a fair way for elections to be undertaken, as the chances of ‘vote-splitting’ between similar candidates is reduced.
Referendum:
• In my opinion the final changes to Auckland’s local governance structure should be ratified by the people of Auckland in a referendum before they come into effect. There could be a simple choice between what is finally decided by government and the status quo. If the people choose the status quo then the legislation should go back to a select committee for further changes and be put to the people as a referendum again in the future.
I also discussed in a bit more detail how the local boards could interact with the Auckland Council in the planning process – essentially by having the Auckland Council define all the different zones the city has and then getting the local board to put together the patchwork of which zones go where (with some guidance from regional strategies). It was an interesting discussion.
In the end, it seems like we might end up with something similar to the pre 1989 borough situation – but with some aspects like planning and transport being centralised. I’m not sure whether this was what the Royal Commission expected, or what the government expected, but it certainly seems to be what the people want.
Processing...