Have your say, make them listen

Eddie
15 years ago
Categories: auckland supercity, democracy under attack, democratic participation

The government has announced its legislative plan for the supercity in a press release from John Carter, rather than Rodney Hide whose arrogant mishandling of the issue is privately blamed by National for the growing unrest in Auckland. The press release says:

Now that the Government has announced our position on the Royal Commission’s Report into Auckland’s Governance, we’re taking the next step.

You play a big part in that.

OK, how?

We will pass the first Bill into law under Urgency this week.

So, no part for the public there then, just a quick rubber stamp from Parliament.

As the second and third Bills go through select committee, Aucklanders will get a chance to have a say about the region’s structure.

Ah, here we go.

If you feel strongly, I urge you to contribute to this process. I’m interested to know what you think about the number of at-large councillors and the responsibilities you think the Local Boards should have.

Ah, so Aucklanders part is limited to saying what they think about how many at-large councillors there should be and the powers of Local Boards? Nothing about the local councils. Nothing about Maori seats. Nothing about limits on the power of the mayor. Nothing anti-supercity. They don’t want to hear it and we all know that submissions to the select committee will just be ignored.

It’s not good enough. Let’s talk about what we can do to make them listen.