Ostend Memorial Hall was packed by 2pm. Around 150 islanders had forsaken their usual Saturday afternoon activities in favour of devoting two hours to hearing, among others, chairman Mike Lee from the ARC speak on how best to make their views heard on how Auckland is presently governed.

The meeting, set up to scrutinise how local democracy is organised on Waiheke, had drawn a mix of islanders wanting to make their opinions heard on what could be the biggest shake up in local democracy since the amalgamation of Waiheke County Council into Auckland City nearly 20 years ago.

Make no mistake. Last year’s rumblings about a ‘Super City’ have not gone away. Within the corridors of power at city hall, council officers have been working on a radical plan that would see Auckland City not only abolish community boards, reduce the number of elected councillors by a whopping 90%, scrap the ARC completely and absorb its powers, but also take over Rodney, Papakura and Franklin district councils to create a new super council tagged with the provisional working title of GAC; the Greater Auckland Council.

But this news, released by ACC on Monday, had not yet been made known to those present. The motivated crowd attending the meeting were there because they shared a deep and widespread feeling of dissatisfaction and disenchantment with Auckland City, summed up to large applause, by ARC chairman Mike Lee.

“My feeling is there’s quite a lot wrong with local government on all levels. The findings of the Rates Enquiry have yet to be expressed but a study has said in ten years time rates will be unaffordable by a great many Aucklanders,” he told the meeting.

“We could take the approach to defend the status quo. But is it popular? I don’t believe it is. I’ve always said there needs to be a cultural, attitudinal change before a structural change. I believe your submissions to the Royal Commission are going to have an impact. We need a consensus. If we’re going to have a change it needs to be measurably better.”

“Better decision making, better democracy and more cost effective. I urge every one of you to make a submission. How do you see local government as the people paying for it? We need a critical, historical appraisal for all of us. What Waiheke says, if it says it in a coherent way, will be listened to.” 

Mike Lee acknowledged community board member Nobilangelo Ceramalus , who is acting independently to win support for Waiheke to move to Thames District Council.

“But I would hate to see that as a distraction for the Royal Commission. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Waiheke to improve things here,”  he says. 

“Go straight from the shoulder and tell the Royal Commission what you feel about local government now. I feel there is a mood to change things in Auckland, and we have to make it better.”

The meeting heard from both current and former local politicians Denise Roche, Ray Ericson, Tony Sears, Eileen Evans and Jay Clarke all conceding in one way or other that the island’s political clout had been continually eroded since Waiheke County Council had been amalgamated into Auckland City back in 1989.

Jay Clarke, who sat on Waiheke County Council at the time of amalgamation, told the meeting the “partnership we thought we had with the ACC” was no longer valid.

“They said you will always have the voice of the gulf loudly heard, but over 19 years I’ve seen that eroded.”

Community board chairman Ray Ericson spoke publicly about Auckland City’s take on Waiheke. He told those assembled that city council “didn’t think we were any different” to Auckland’s suburbs. And that within the corridors of power, “they’re saying we’re not going to have a community board, or a councillor, and that we’ll be attached to Eastern Bays.”

Those present listened with intent. The mood was focused, and the meeting well run. When the opportunity arose for the public to speak statements were defiant and pointed with much of the comment echoing Bernard Rhodes observation that he hadn’t moved to Waiheke “to be part of a city”.

Time and time again, the perception of Auckland City’s treatment of the island as “just another suburb,” without genuine consideration of our location, our coastal-rural landscape, our strong community or initiatives to create a sustainable future, was summed up by John Stansfield’s accusation the council were delivering Auckland governance into the hands of the “business elite”.

The concept of Auckland as a ‘world class city’ also met with hostility, with Basil Holmes receiving loud applause for questioning islanders ability to pay higher rates in the face of growing capital expenditure on things such as infastructure.

When Bernard Rhodes asked those present for a show of hands to indicate those willing to break away from Auckland City Council, at least 90% of those packing out Ostend Hall shot up their arms.

And the question of how Waiheke could govern itself was raised, with an idea being mooted to form a Hauraki Gulf District Council, as well as other governance structures that could provide the island with more power, control and say.  

Christopher Wragge from the Waiheke island Community Planning Group set out the way forward, emphasising the need for a “collective consensus” within submissions and using the workshops as a way of identifying “desired priority outcomes.”

It is clear many people are dissatisfied with our present governance, and, in that packed meeting hall, the will was certainly there to reshape our future – perhaps radically. •

Submission workshops – finding consensus

Following on from last Saturday’s public meeting prompted by the Royal Commission into Auckland governance, two workshops are being held this Saturday, and next, with a starting time of 2pm at Artworks. 

The purpose of the workshops is to both review and refine two “ready to go” submission templates – for people who want to make a submission but don’t have the time/inclination to prepare one from scratch – and to make information available to people who want to work on their own submission.

The workshops will be run so that people can work on the bits that interest them with four, or five, mini-workshops running four hours each achieving one thing.

People can arrive when they want, work on what they want, contribute if they want and leave when they want.

The workshops will be facilitated by Dougal Thompson and Michael and Shar Henderson from Values at Work, along with James Samuel.

For further information see http://waihekercs.wordpress.com or contact Christopher Wragge on 372 9541. •

 
Commission opens door to possibility of radical change

“Are you happy with the form of local government in Auckland?” and “if not, what changes would you like to see?”

These are the two main questions being put to Aucklanders and regional stakeholders by Royal Commissioners on Local Government Peter Salmon QC, Margaret Bazley DNZM and David Shand.

Their findings, and those of the Rates Enquiry, may lead to the biggest shake-up in local democracy since the amalgamation of local and district councils in 1989.

The Commissioner’s task is to balance the wellbeing of the region and its diverse communities with the building of a “world-class city.” 

Auckland, with 1.3 million people, contains a third of the country’s population – a most unusual set up compared with other global cities, particularly since it is not the capital. 

It is also our city with the greatest cultural diversity: 56.5% European, 18.9% Asian, 14.4% Pacific 11.1% Maori. Immigration issues surface first and mostly in Auckland, where one top city school had 27 languages among its third form students alone.

Auckland’s population is predicted to rise to two million by 2050, and both high ranking council members and officers talk of Auckland reaching a population of six million within 100 to150 years.

The Commissioners will consider the interrelationship between the ARC, Auckland City Council, the six other local councils and the community boards and look at whether these or ‘other mechanisms’ will best enable democratic local decision making and action by, and on behalf of, communities.

“So long as they are consistent with the purpose and principles of the 2002 Local Government Act, the current rules for local government can be different for this region and the Commissioners will be able to propose new structures,” it says in the booklet on submissions. 

Which decisions should be made at the regional and local levels respectively is an issue central to the Commission’s work.

The mandate is to generate a sustainable, prosperous future for Auckland capable of attracting talent and economic opportunities in the global marketplace. Such a world-class city is “one where people want to live and do business, that is attractive to people and capital from overseas... that has a strong cultural and artistic identify and where creativity is reflected in a strong research and innovation culture.” Requiring, they say, “a positive regulatory and business environment, good infrastructure and careful environmental management” and regional and local governance “equal to the best in the world”.

They intend the new structures will generate:

• Responsibility for decision making, delivery and funding that is clear to the general public.

• Local government that provides for clear accountability for achieving outcomes, use of public funds and stewardship of public assets.

• Services that are timely and cost-efficient, and that support delivery of good quality and quantity of services to residents and businesses without undue wastage at reasonable cost.

• Local government which is proactive in identifying and responding to the current and future needs of its communities and that has the strength and flexibility to cope with uncertainty, complexity and change.

What Aucklanders are now being asked is whether they agree with these ideals for the city’s governance needs, what other criteria are important and what overall structure of local government do citizens think is appropriate for the Auckland region. And why.

A cornerstone of the enquiry is Section 10 of the Local Government Act that says that the purpose of local government is

(a) to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities; and

(b) to promote the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of communities, in the present and for the future.”

“While it is desirable that on some matters Auckland should speak with one voice, we also need a system that enables people to be heard and to be involved in matters of local interest,” the Commissioners say.

It leaves the door open for Waiheke to consider other forms of governance – whether that is the creation of an integrated gulf island council with administrative bases on Great Barrier Island and Waiheke – or independence from Auckland City in another form.

What Commissioners need to hear now is your views on our present governance –  what is working, what is not.

Two public workshops (see separate story) will also identify community consensus on these issues in order to present Commissioners with a strong collective voice.

Hard copies of submission forms and booklets are available from the Waiheke Service Centre on Belgium Street, Waiheke Community Library at the Artworks Complex in Oneroa, and from next week we will have copies at our Gulf News office in April Arcade, Oceanview Road.

You can also download versions at www.royalcommission.govt.nz or on http://waihekercs.wordpress.com – a website set up for islanders containing useful links, a community blog, workshop details and sources of information relevant to submissions.

Written submissions to the commission will need to be in by Tuesday, 22 April. •