Government for the people?

Written By: - Date published: 10:37 am, May 19th, 2009 - 4 comments
Categories: auckland supercity - Tags:

democracy-under-attack1
The Herald recently ran an excellent piece by Dr Emma Davies and Elizabeth Rowe (from the Institute of Public Policy at AUT) – Super City’s social well-being in danger:

We risk losing sight of the fact that the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance’s recommendation for the number of councils is not the only idea abandoned in the Government’s response..

The royal commission concluded: “Central and local government’s annual social well-being spend is in the vicinity of $12 billion in the Auckland region. It is critical that these resources are applied effectively to achieve the best outcomes.
…
That is why the royal commission proposed a Social Issues Board. Having rejected this proposal, the Government has proposed a weaker Social Issues Forum chaired by the Minister of Social Development, and comprising the Auckland Council Mayor, the head of relevant Auckland Council committees and representation from local boards. There is no mention of how the central government agencies (Ministry of Health, Justice, Social Development and Education; Commissioner for Police, Housing New Zealand) will be actively involved, yet they are the central government agencies who spend most of the money on social issues.

The social dimension of the city’s planning is also missing from the listed activities of the Transition Board or the key topics on the Government’s Auckland website.

The the Royal Commission devoted a huge amount of attention to this topic (see Chapter 9, 70 pages, it’s hard to miss). It is clear that the weaker Social Issues Forum will not come close in scope or powers to the Board that was proposed:

… the Commission recommends the establishment of a new body, the Social Issues Board, which has the power to make decisions on the social well-being strategy for the region; to identify critical areas of need; and to decide on redistribution of resources. Its members will include the Mayor of Auckland Council, and the chairs of the Auckland Council committees. It will also include representatives from central government and in particular the chief executives of the major social agencies, such as Health, Education, Social Development, Justice, Police, and Housing New Zealand.

The systematic downgrading of the issue of the well-being of the people of Auckland speaks volumes on the priorities of this government.

4 comments on “Government for the people? ”

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  1. rave 1
    19 May 2009 at 11:23 am

    We won’t stop the NACTs if we keep playing up how progressive the RCA is/was. It is history and rightly so as a semi-feudal institution foisted on Auckland, covering it avaricious loins with a veil of hypocritical social concern. It belongs in the dust bin of history.

    Thankfully we have avoided a phony smokescreen mini-Ministry of Social Development for Tamaki Makaurau, where Paula Bennett could strut around with her witless Lee/Rankin cheerleaders holding up her Westie sign and dealing with Mall invasions personally.

    Now that the ruling class is revealing exactly what it thinks of social development – that there is no such thing as society and that development means only opportunities for profits, the good citizens of Auckland will be forced into self-help and building their own welfare system from below the meet the actual needs of Aucklanders. Cutting holes in their fences would be a start.

    They will immediately see that there will be no social development while there is motorway development, ongoing land and property speculation fueled by profiteering banks, and the city run by a crony capitalist cabal of parasites milking the population as a cash cow.

    Aucklanders need to revolt against this semi-feudal, bankster, speculator, patriarchal, colonising coup and build their own Auckland to serve the needs of the majority who are workers and not parasites.

    For a Workers Tamaki Makaurau http://redrave.blogspot.com/

  2. Draco T Bastard 2
    19 May 2009 at 12:58 pm

    The systematic downgrading of the issue of the well-being of the people of Auckland speaks volumes on the priorities of this government.

    Anybody with any basic understanding of NACT and other RWNJs already knew that. They believe that other peoples well being is up to them and has nothing to do with them. They really don’t understand that humanity must exist within a social/communistic framework. If we don’t we then end up tearing each other apart.

    Of course, this is what they’re trying to do as it lowers wages and makes people desperate enough to stop working together. It makes the poor people even more dependent upon the rich so that they’re more likely to follow orders.

  3. Irascible 3
    19 May 2009 at 2:41 pm

    The removal of social activities & policies from the Super City legislation is in keeping with the NACT belief (John Banks & co) that such activities are not part of the core business of a local council and should, like Airport Shares and other Council holdings, be disposed off to the care of private providers.
    This belief about core business also includes disposal of recreational facilities and libraries. Watch out for increased rates and reduced provision of community services.

  4. Natpicker 4
    19 May 2009 at 3:35 pm

    In the words of Jelo Biafra (Dead Kennedys)..”Kill kill kill kill the poor”………..should be the NACT theme song.

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