John Carter: Your role in Auckland’s success

4 Comments
03 June 2009
John Carter: Your role in Auckland’s success

I am constantly being reminded of Aucklanders’ enthusiasm for a united authority -one rates bill and clean clear lines of decision-making that will allow Auckland to grow as a world-class city.

The National-led Government has taken action and set the scene for more cohesive and representative Auckland local government.

We are talking with ratepayers, residents and community groups to ensure the best possible outcomes.

I have been elected to chair the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee, with Tau Henare as deputy chair.

The Committee will hold two sets of hearings. The first will consider the structure of the Auckland Council and the proposed 20 – 30 local boards. The second will consider the powers of the Council and boards.

The Committee has now called for submissions on their structure. Submissions close on June 26. We can’t accept any submissions after this date, so please make sure you get them in.

We want to hear from you. We will pay close attention to your submissions. We will set the locations for hearings once we have your submissions.

Submissions can be sent to us at AGL@parliament.govt.nz or by post to “Clerk of the Committee, Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee, Select Committee Office, Freepost Parliament, Wellington”.

We have received a lot of interesting and informed emails from many of you. These emails cannot be treated as submissions. Therefore, if you want to be heard as part of the Select Committee process, make sure you send your submission to one of the addresses above.

The Select Committee will also receive submissions on functions and powers of the Council and your local boards later in the year, or early next year.

Join the process and help create a united Auckland that represents us as we grow as a world-class city.

Hon John Carter
Associate Minister of Local Government

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#1 - F Langley 2009-06-04 15:26 - (Reply)

What National is saying vs doing is full of contradictions. The Auckland supercity select committee is so hasty, there’s too little time for National MPs public meetings to encourage formal submissions. Does National seriously want to ‘hear your views’? John - I agree the public needs to lodge formal select committee submissions, and be encouraged to present at a nearby suburb hearing. Yet the select committee has allowed only three weeks for a third of NZ’s population to be mobilised to make submissions – yeah right! Very few of the National MPs ‘Have Your Say’ tour dates coincide with the 02-26Jun2009 submission timeframe. http://www.national.org.nz/web/auckland3.pdf That tour is equally important for the MPs profiles to engage with the public to encourage submissions. The submission timeframe was too short for my local MP (National’s Judith Collins) to arrange a meaningful public meeting. She is conspicuously absent on this debate. So how do you intend to effectively hear that many in the electorate are dissatisfied with National’s lack of grassroots engagement; and complaints about the supercity not being addressed?

#1.1 - M Pickle said:
2009-06-08 13:16 - (Reply)

Following on from the comment about lack of grassroots involvement. I urge you, Mr Key, to look into decisions in Auckland that are being made too hastily while super city is being set up. A simple statement in Auckland's current policy says specifically that Waiheke Island's waste must be dealt with on the island due to a long list of practical concerns gleaned from past failures. In the turbulance of the super-city changeover, ACC is railroading the approval for off-island waste management, against public will and all collective wisdom on the subject. Where is the knowledgeable leadership at this time? I see big trouble ahead if local communities are not allowed to continue community-based solutions to their own problems. This is a time to act with vision and forward thinking policies,and instead we are being yanked back to the dark ages of waste management. How we handle our waste may not be the glamorous issue that people love to watch on TV, but it wil bring down a city faster than anything if not done correctly. We are running out of time to do the right thing.

#2 - D Yates 2009-06-09 11:41 - (Reply)

I share the concerns raised by both commentators above. I am also extremely concerned that democracy is being compromised by the process - legislation is being enacted the key purpose of which is to ride roughshod over the electorate and deny the currently legislated rights to vote on these changes. Please rethink the process - the legacy of these changes is something we will have to live with for the next 20 years.

#3 - Silver 2009-06-09 17:22 - (Reply)

Maybe democracy is working, if enough of the Auckland population are agin the supercity concecpt there will be huge parades and protests to demonstrate that opinion or maybe most may see sense in not having a host of little empires feeling very important but stifling any real progress. Silver

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