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Auckland's CBD - Source: ONE News -
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The first two bills setting up a super council in Auckland will be introduced to Parliament next week, Local Government Minister Rodney Hide says.
The first bill to be passed under urgency will establish the Auckland Council as a legal entity and the Auckland Governance Transition Agency.
The bill will also give the agency the power to "constrain the decision-making powers of existing Auckland councils and their subsidiaries".
The agency will be responsible for rationalisation and the transition to the new governance arrangements.
The second bill will be sent to Parliament's local government select committee for public submissions for reporting back in September.
This will:
- Propose the structure of the Auckland Council - eight members
elected at large and 12 members from wards, and 20 to 30
local boards including their high level functions;
- Empower the Local Government Commission to determine the
boundaries of the wards and the local boards, as well as the
boards' membership; and
- Provide for the integration of Auckland's water
infrastructure.
Hide says this bill and the parliamentary process were the best ways for people to air their concerns about issues such as the merits of electing councillors at large and whether there should be Maori seats on the super council.
He says he is willing to hear the arguments on the issues, though he also referred to existing powers for local body voters to decide whether there should be Maori seats in a referendum.
A third bill would be introduced later this detailing the structure, functions, roles and powers of the council and local boards.
Labour has called for a referendum on the structure of the council, but Hide says the parliamentary process was more appropriate.
He also defended the powers the transition agency would have to veto spending, saying councils were already seeking guidance on what was appropriate to carry on with.
Hide believed the agency would mainly look at large spending items and believed once guidelines were drawn up it would be relatively clear to councils what they could and could not do.
Prime Minister John Key defended the use of urgency to pass the first bill, saying the Government was showing leadership and it was necessary to get the process moving.
The membership of the establishment board, which was likely to have five members, would probably be announced next week.
Key says the details of contentious issues would be dealt with
in the second and third bills.
Cabinet had "puts its best foot forward" on the Maori seats issue
in ruling them out, but would still listen to arguments about
it.
Key says he believed Maori issues would be best dealt with by an advisory board to the council.
