When is the required referendum?
Aucklanders do deserve to have a say on the super city proposal. They should get to vote yes or no on the supercity in referenda before anything is set in stone. In fact the government is required to do so.
If a draft reorganisation scheme has been approved… a poll of electors on the proposal that the reorganisation scheme proceed must be held in each district or region that is directly affected by the scheme.
Strange, then, that we haven’t heard anything about referenda on the supercity. In fact as this enhanced* screenshot of the
official site on the super city proposal shows, there isn’t a mention of having a referendum on the site.
Could it be that the Government intends to include in its legislation provisions to take away Aucklanders’ right to have their say in how their local government is organised? Rodney Hide
earlier this month had this to say:
We need to act decisively if we are to achieve the timetable that will allow the new structure to be established before October next year. This will allow Aucklanders to have their say on whom they want to run their region and represent their communities.
To achieve that timetable it appears that Rodney wants to ignore the requirement to hold a referendum. That really would be an attack on democracy. To get the
venal city structure that he wants and National is agreeing to, they will have to remove a protection on our democracy first.
*I’d suggest that they enhance the logo on the site as I did, to avoid also violating “truth in advertising” legislation.
[updated – put the correct clause in, clause 46 is who can authorise and clause 49 is the requirement for the poll]
