Govt to AKL: Which part of no don't you understand?

The third super city bill has now been tabled in the House and is due to get its second reading on Thursday.

It’s a two-fingered salute to Aucklanders who have been calling on the Government to re-think its plan to corporatise Auckland local government.  John Key and Rodney Hide have said NO to the two big things Aucklanders have been asking for: the Bill fails to guarantee real powers for local boards, and it continues the Government’s plan to shift three-quarters of operations into council-owned companies.

Rodney Hide and John (Sancho Panza) Carter will try and say they’ve listened to Aucklanders’ concerns.  But this is a massive con job. The bill gives the green light to corporatisation.

• Making these new council companies publish a glossy brochure and hold a press conference every three months and calling it ‘accountability’ is an insult to Aucklanders.
• A majority of the initial directors are going to be appointed by Rodney Hide.
• The Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) are going to be so big and so powerful it will be difficult for the Council and mayor to  hold them accountable.

Every other Council in New Zealand gets to choose whether or not any part of their operations are corporatised. Why not Auckland?

Worse still, the powerful Transport Agency which will spend more than half of all rates, is a statutory CCO meaning that central government will have to change the law before the Auckland Council could bring it back in house.  Four government departments including Treasury advised against corporatising transport because they said it would reduce the transparency and accountability to ratepayers.

In spite of John Carter’s soothing tones at the select committee, the Government has once again ignored the majority of submitters who said they wanted to see the powers of local boards guaranteed in law.

Is it any wonder 52.7 per cent of respondents in a recent Herald digipoll said a single Auckland Council would be worse for them and only 31.2 per cent said it would be better?

You can read Labour’s Minority Report on the bill here.