Speech to the Committee For Auckland Business Luncheon, hosted by Deloittes

Speech by Hon Rodney Hide, Minister of Local Government to the Committee For Auckland Business Luncheon, hosted by Deloittes at the Deloitte Centre, 60 Queen Street, Auckland on Wednesday 9 June 2010

Today I want to spell out the Government’s vision for Auckland.

Everything we are setting out to achieve is geared to a single objective.

To make Auckland greater.

We are doing this because Auckland ratepayers are sick of their City being paralysed by the woeful inability of eight councils to agree on anything.

This is about improvement and greater efficiency. This is about what’s good for ratepayers.

This is about providing a service culture from the people in the ratepayers’ pay. From the moment the phone is answered.

This is a plan to attract people and investment.

This is a plan to deliver greater effectiveness, better service and democratic accountability.

This is a plan to eliminate duplication - simplifying rating and planning.

This is a plan for a City of the future.

There has been a lack of leadership and no single vision for Auckland, but soon its leaders will be able to think regionally, plan strategically and act decisively.

They will be able to deliver a united Auckland with effective services for its diverse communities.

Auckland will finally be a world-class city; the economic powerhouse that New Zealander so desperately needs.

And, lest we forget: In April 1919 Michael Joseph Savage campaigned for the unification of all civic bodies in Auckland into a single municipal government.

And Aucklanders have been complaining ever since. Waiting ever since.

Complaining about an inadequate transport system and waterfront development amongst others. In short, complaining about a dysfunctional city where feudal bickering has stymied progress for nigh on a century.

Waiting for someone to fix the problem.

Well, to fix the problem we have done what no government has been prepared to do for the past one hundred years.

We have been bold, decisive, and yes, radical.

We have produced what has rightly been described as a workable prescription for Auckland’s woes.

Auckland has everything you would expect of a great international city.

One of the world’s most beautiful harbours; a diverse and vibrant society; an entrepreneurial business community; the commercial heart of the nation.

Yet, the city is paralysed by its fragmented governance, with endless confusion and argument over responsibility with the ensuing lack of accountability.

Net result. Gridlock. Not just on the poorly planned road network but in every aspect of daily life.

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance was clear in what was needed. One Auckland. One long-term council community plan. One spatial plan. One district plan. One rating system. One rates bill. One voice for Auckland.

And we have delivered. And more.

Now there will be a single voice.

There will be one Mayor for the whole region. The mayor will be head of the governing body and promote a vision for Auckland and provide the leadership to achieve that vision.

There will be 20 councillors, elected by voters using a "ward system". The region has been split into 13 areas, or "wards". Some of the wards will have one councillor and larger ones will have two. This guarantees a fair spread of councillors from across the region.

And there will be 21 local boards to meaningfully represent local communities.

Local boards, as a key part of the Council, will make decisions on local issues, activities and facilities and will work with the governing body to ensure that community interests are well represented in regional decision making.

Local boards, a completely new creature for local government in NZ, have their statutory powers enshrined in law. They will have far more extensive powers than the former community boards.

They will have decision-making responsibilities in their own right for local matters, while the governing body, the council, will have responsibility for the wider picture, or regional matters.

The local boards will have responsibility for promoting the well being of their communities, including the content of strategies, policies, plans and by-laws that impact on their communities.

The Council must listen to their preferences on funding and how that is allocated in local board areas.

Before the Local Government election in October the Auckland Transition Agency will publish the Local Board’s initial responsibilities, functions, and funding. Any minor changes will be negotiated and agreed between the Auckland Council and the local boards when they develop the 2012 Long Term Council Community Plan.

To ensure their strength of voice they will from 2013 be able to have five to 12 members instead of the previously proposed range of four to nine.

I stress this as the local boards are a safeguard against sudden and inappropriate changes by the Mayor and council.

You may recall the original recommendation was to disestablish community boards and keep six watered down councils.

This did not address the need for grass roots decision-making and accountability.

A single governing body and local boards give more power to the people than the former community boards.

Power that ensures the views of local communities, and the will of the people, are heard at the top table.

A guaranteed voice for local communities.

The overall intent of the Super City is clear enough.

No more endless disagreements about the location and funding of regional amenities, and the provision of necessary infrastructure.

Auckland’s traffic woes will now be dealt with by a single body.

No more arguments about sports stadia. No more costly duplication of functions with eight rating authorities, seven district plans and a multitude of differing bylaws.

You can confidently expect efficiency gains in the years ahead from integrated long-term planning and decision-making.

I say confidently because what more would you expect when eight city, district and regional councils become one.

I stress, the intent is to make Auckland the most exciting, vibrant metropolitan centre in Australasia.

A full third of the submissions to the Royal Commission expressed real anger, despair and frustration over the regulatory red tape, and the cost of complying with different district and rural plans across the region. They complained of ever poorer services for ever higher costs. A process that was blocking development.

The changes, the improvements, won’t happen overnight but rationalising the tangle of plans and policies will deliver consistency.

The focus will be on lowering fees and costs and simplifying the paper work.

A single district plan will go a long way towards that.

Costs will be lower with better customer service.

There are a bewildering number of fee categories across the region. Take dogs. Sixty categories for registering, impounding, and adopting dogs. There will now be half that number with charges dropped to the lowest levels.

Then there are building inspections, currently charged at an hourly rate varying from $110 to $178. In future there will be a standard hourly charge of $110 across the region. I should mention that Franklin district is excluded for the moment while some inconsistencies there are worked out.

And the resource consent forms! Over 850 forms currently used by councils will be reduced to 120 simplified forms for consistency across the region. Wherever you are in the region, the consent application will be the same.

And there will be a single Building Control Authority. This will deliver a standardised control policy and acceptance criteria. A consistent policy for reviewing and deciding on applications.

As for the notion this will be all run from Queen Street.

There will be full service centres in Central Auckland but also in Takapuna, Henderson and Manukau. And, local services centres at Orewa, Waiheke, Papakura and Pukekohe.

Plus there will be neighbourhood service centres at Warkworth, Huapai, Helensville, Great Barrier and Waiuku.

And, it is intended that service centres will be provided for each of the local board areas where one does not currently exist.

As for staff. There have been job losses at senior management level creating a smaller and tighter top management team to drive the necessary improvement and consistency across the region.

Significantly, front line staff numbers will not be reduced.

The Council Controlled Organisations or CCOs, have attracted much attention. Let's be clear. Auckland’s CCOs will be the most accountable of any council in the country.

CCOs are there to enable the Council to make use of specialist commercial expertise that is not available within the Council itself. And remember, there is nothing new in this. Councils had this form of arms length entity under previous Local Government legislation (called Local Authority Trading Enterprises) then the LGA 02 created the CCO model. The Auckland region councils have some 40 of them.

They will have boards appointed by the Council that may also dismiss directors. Again. Let’s be clear here. The council determines the policy and appoints a board to ensure its wishes are carried out. Failure to do so can lead to the wholesale dismissal of a board and the appointment of directors who are determined to carry out the will of the council. The will of the people. How much more democratic can you get?

Let's spell it out. The Auckland council will have ultimate control of the board appointees, appoint the chairman and deputy chairman of each CCO, have the security of being able to fire directors, open up meetings to the public and determine the strategic objectives of each CCO to comply with the Council's long-term plan.

In other words, forget any notion that the CCOs will be a law unto themselves.

What's more - with the exception of Auckland Transport, which will require an Act of Parliament to disband it - there is no impediment to the Council disestablishing any of the CCOs.

Critics of the new city structure are pointing to the CCOs as having some form of secret agenda to conduct council business behind closed doors, away from the public gaze. Interestingly, these same critics do not seem to see such a problem with any of the existing such entities.

For there is nothing new in arms length Council Organisations. They have been in existence all around the country since the former Labour-led government allowed Councils to set them up in 2002.

In Auckland alone there are now more than 300 council-owned or council-funded such entities with some form of corporate or business-like structure, spread across the existing eight councils. No less than 41 of these are CCOs, primarily companies or trusts that have been established for community, service delivery or commercial purposes.

As for conducting business in secret - they will have to hand over minutes and decisions on request. And we have closed a potential loophole that might have allowed the CCOs to find ways around allowing the public access to their meetings. The Government has decided that CCOs must hold at least two meetings in public every year, and give people a opportunity to speak and ask questions.

Yet still the conspiracy theorists spread their doom and gloom message and point to water as being in the gun for privatisation.

Let me put this bogey to rest once and for all.

Watercare is charged with being a minimum price provider that cannot by law pay a dividend to its shareholder. Who buys a company that can’t, by law, make a profit or pay a dividend?

But, just in case you are still worried. No. Watercare cannot be sold. The Council can fold it back within its own embrace, but may not sell it to any other concern. That’s been the law for water services since 2002 and has not changed!

Back to those CCOs. They are what the reorganisation of Auckland is all about, improved services, less duplication and better value for money for all ratepayers.

The Government has already approved three such rationalised CCOs for Auckland, embracing the critical areas of transport, water and the waterfront. The Auckland Transition Agency is also looking at CCOs to cover economic development, tourism, property and development, major regional facilities and council investments.

Let's address the specific of transport. Auckland Transport will replace the current separate Auckland transport entities and will be responsible for all local authority transport delivery functions in Auckland, including local roads and public transport.

The Council will have complete control over the agency. It will be able to appoint or dismiss any member of the Auckland Transport board at any time. It will approve Auckland Transport’s funding and statement of intent. Auckland Transport will have to comply with statutory land use plans and its decisions will be set by the council’s transport strategy. And the Council will own the roads, lest there be any misunderstanding.

This will ensure focus and continuity in decision-making necessary to deliver a transport system that supports Auckland’s growth and economic success. For the first time there will now be a single body managing transport services and functions across the region.

Any of the existing 300 council entities not affected by the new CCO structure will simply transfer, as is, to the new Auckland Council when it takes effect on 1 November 2010.

And, with the exception of Transport, if the new Council doesn’t like any of the other CCOs, they can get rid of them. Transport will require Government say so but the Council will be big enough and powerful enough to make quite a fuss if it so chooses. I have said before, given the size of the new Auckland, its Mayor will be the second most powerful person in the land.

Again, let me stress, the sole purpose of the integration process is a determination to achieve efficiency and effectiveness along with commercial discipline.

The Council's leadership of these organisations will be visible in a way it has never been in the past. Aucklanders will know more about the performance of its local government and its CCOs than ever before.

All that is sought is greater effectiveness and better service with democratic accountability. Better service while eliminating duplication of service from the existing multitude of CCOs.

The new council will be judged on the quality of its service, not the number of employees. I stress, this will be about service, and putting customers and staff together with a "can do" attitude.

Staff will now be able to think, plan and act decisively with the infrastructure and services a great city needs.

Let me stress:

* This is a 100-year vision plan.
* A plan to attract people and investment.
* A plan for a city of the future.

We know the people of Auckland want greater Council efficiency and value for money. We know they fear a lack of local community involvement and local democracy. And we know they are looking for an improved transport system.

The Super City will deliver all of these and more.

And, again, remember:

* This is being done because Auckland ratepayers are sick of their city being paralysed by the woeful inability of all those councils to agree on anything.

* This is about improvement and greater efficiency.

* This is about what’s good for ratepayers.

* This is about providing a service culture.

* This is about fixing Auckland. Making it better.

All of this will take place on November 1 when the new Council and Local Boards and Mayor will be elected.

From that moment there will be one Auckland with a strong regional governance; integrated decision-making; and greater community engagement. All geared to delivering improved value for money for the city that is home to nearly one-third of our nation’s population.

A truly exciting prospect.