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Auckland city - Source: ONE News -
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It seems there are no surprises in the
select committee report on Auckland
Governance.
The special committee has reported back on legislation to set up
the new super city council in ways which had been widely signalled
in recent months.
The mayor of Auckland will get wide ranging powers and have a
dedicated budget to lead the new council which will have 20 to 30
boards under it with control of funding for community initiatives
and local decision making powers.
The boards will be able to propose targeted rates in their areas and by-laws, as well as make decisions about prioritising spending and services.
The regional wide council sitting over the boards would be made up of 20 councillors elected solely by a ward system and not a mix of ward and councillors elected at large as initially proposed.
The wards of these councillors are areas covered by the local boards and will be set by the Local Government Commission.
There will be local boards for Rodney, Franklin, Waiheke and
Great Barrier Island defined in the law.
Not included in the council would be north Rodney, which would go
to Kaipara.
Over the top of the council would be a mayor who would determine the council's committee structure and appoint chairs and the deputy mayor.
The new mayor would also get a separate budget of roughly $2 million to set up their own office, as well as powers to set the council's direction and programme.
The mayor would only get one vote and could be out-voted by a majority on the council.
Widespread criticism
The select committee report is already attracting widespread criticism.
Political editor Barry Soper says the new mayor is being likened to a czar overseeing a third of the country's population without any real mandate.
Soper says overarching all of that will be 20 Auckland Super City Councillors, headed by the mayor.
He adds that it's likely the report will get passed through parliament without any changes.
As expected there was no provision for Maori representation.
Labour, the Maori Party and the Greens all filed dissenting minority views.
Labour said it agreed with reform and the concept of one council, one mayor, one plan, but the method of reform and the details had been badly handled.
It believed there should be separate Maori seats and more councillors on the Auckland super city council.
There should also be fewer local boards, Labour said.
The parliamentary committee also recommended that all elections should be first-past-the-post, but Labour wanted a single transferable vote system.
The Green's opposed the overall concept of a single city and was concerned that the local boards did not have enough powers.
Both the Greens and Labour said the bill, as redrafted, put too
much power in the hands of the Mayor.
The Maori Party was totally opposed to the bill as it failed to
provide for Maori representation.
See the full report
here.
What do you think of the super city plans? Leave your
commments on the messageboard below
Add a Comment:
Post new commentnztifosi said on 2009-09-04 @ 17:45 NZDT: Report abusive post
As a pakeha Aucklander I am very concerned that there will be no Maori seats - indeed I believe with such a diverse cultural mix there should also be room for Pacific or ethnic representation as well. Instead we are losing almost all meaningful representation in our city. As with the change to MMP - so should the supercity system go to a vote by all of Auckland - if not all of NZ. After all if they pass it here what is to stop them from deciding on a Southland or Wellington Supercity as well?
OneVoice said on 2009-07-14 @ 21:57 NZDT: Report abusive post
The new structure is still far from clear!. Are there going to be heads of main municipal functions appointed from the 20 councilors (like ministers in cetral govt) and each municipal function will be reposible for the greater Auckland regeon merged from the current seven different cities ?
AucklandAndrew said on 2009-07-14 @ 09:43 NZDT: Report abusive post
While co-ordination at a higher level is necessary, local governance should be grass-roots up, not top down. The proposal has fewer councilors per head of population than MPs, and the people who will be elected in will be the kinds of people who are rich and famous enough to get publicity, not the people who are right for Auckland - hardly democratic. Banks wants us to live off a loan from his rich buddies for the next 25 years, and pay them interest? No surprises there.
magrafil said on 2009-07-13 @ 22:55 NZDT: Report abusive post
bonds proposal interesting, whose going to invest, international funds will be wooed by US treasury notes (their unstable economy means potential for a bigger return), NZ investors surely don't have any money left after the property developers took their money and ran ... however, its a fairly good idea, interested he mentioned rail ... was that an anomoly, what Auckland authority actually wants to build transport infrastructure apart from motorways?
AnonymousJoe said on 2009-05-25 @ 16:01 NZDT: Report abusive post
I think that a Moari only seat is racist. Seriously, does this mean that Maori people are not allowed to run for the regular seats on the Council? Of Course not because that would be racist. I think this country needs to get a grip... If they want Maori representation on the Council... then Vote for a Maori Candidate. But heaven forbid we get democratic.