I’m consistently amused by all the goings-on north of the Bombay Hills.
The latest Super City fracas is the most current entertainment. Actually I think it’s a great idea. We have a long history of over-representation and over-government (we still have far too many clowns in the big house in Wellington, most of whom are there not to represent their constituents but simply to make up the numbers and follow the party line). But as far as Local Bodies go, why do we need seven local bodies to make up Greater Auckland – and while I’m at it, with roughly a third the population of Greater Auckland why does the Greater Wellington region need six local bodies to look after our needs and wishes?
Now I’d be the first to say that this needs to be done right. You can’t have some Super-Mayor calling the shots for his cronies at the expense of everybody else. And I am concerned that this is exactly what would happen if the current Mayor of Jafaville, Banksy, got his hands on the wheel. Banksy, who is definitely of the opinion that being Mayor of Auckland City means that he is the Greater Power, seems to think that he has the automatic right to be Mayor of Auckland Super City. And sorry Banksy mate, I don’t think that’s necessarily the best call. It’s undemocratic, for a start. And democracy at Local Body level definitely matters.
We have Local Body elections every three years. And while I feel it’s important that I vote (I mean, these clowns are going to be spending my money for the next three years) nine times out of ten, try as I may, I don’t have a clue who, or what, I’m voting for and how it’s going to affect my life. Having to vote for up to twenty Councillers, District Health Board Members, Greater Wellington Regional Council Members doesn’t mean anything to most of us. They may live down the road, have 2.5 children and a pet iguana but what are they going to do once in office? There again they also say you have to be fairly warped to run for Local Government in the first place. Of course we have a lot of that going on in Central Government as well, half the clowns there we never hear of until Election Year cones around and then the ones with the high profiles or the ones that are not going to sneak in the back door on the party list all put their hands up, so we could do with a bit of rationalization in that area as well.
Ideally centralising Local Body affairs would cut out a lot of dead wood, not to mention cutting costs through elimination of duplication of resources. And hopefully with fewer, higher-profile candidates, we might get to know a bit more about them and what they really stand for. In the best of worlds they might actually be accountable to their constituents, of course this is probably hoping too much.
But what has really intrigued me about Auckland’s progression to Super City is this business about Maori Seats. It took the MP for Local Government Rodney 'Perkbuster' Hide threatening to throw his toys out of the sandpit to force the National Party’s hand to say, even at this early stage in proceedings, that it’s not going to happen. And now the Dr. Pita Sharples of the Maori Party is up in arms. “No special Maori seats on the council? That’s not democratic!”
Now excuse me Dr. Sharples. But this is democracy in its purest form. It’s not as if we’re saying that Maori can’t stand for the Super Council. In fact, what we are saying is that if a Maori candidate comes forward is the best person for the job everybody will vote for him (or her). You won’t need to be on the Maori roll, or stand as the token Maori candidate! And that, Dr. Sharples, is what democracy is really about!
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