My Bill gets its first reading

My bill will be debated in Parliament on Wednesday 19 August. Labour, Greens and Progressive are going to support it. I am hopeful the Maori Party will too. Let's see what the Nats do. It will only take a few of their Auckland MPs to support it and that will get it to the select committee. ACT should support it. They want us to have referenda for everything else but somehow I don’t think they will be voting for it.

The bill is called the the Local Government (Protection of Auckland Assets) Amendment Bill. You can download a copy of it here.  If passed it would require the new super city to hold a referendum and get Aucklanders' approval before selling any of our community-owned assets.

On Wednesday 19 August you can watch it live from the gallery in the debating chamber if you are in Wellington. You can watch it live on TV on Freeview 22 or Sky 94. Or live-streamed on the internet at http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/SeeHear/PTV/. You can listen on radio AM 882 Khz - frequencies for other areas at http://tinyurl.com/lxz3px.

The debate will probably begin around 5.30pm but it will depend on what else is on the order paper that day. The House rises for dinner 6-7.30pm.

Hope you enjoy the debate. You can email at phil.twyford@parliament.govt.nz or txt me on 027 444 9161.

And please let your friends know about the debate. There is a facebook page here with all the details: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=115892123358.

In the mean time spread the word about the Not Yours To Sell campaign. Sign up as a supporter and send National's Auckland MPs a message asking them to vote for my bill.