Clare Curran suspects far right plot

This morning on Morning Report Adam was certain he heard reference to a claim by Clare Curran, you know the Labour MP from Dunedin, that National and ACT were planning to have only one local council for th South Island. He thought she cannot be serious. He looked in vain for a print reference to this nonsensical twaddle.

Then after a Google search, did not try Wolfram Alpha, he found an item at the Labour Blog – Red Alert.

This is what Clare Curran wrote:-

Last night in the House after I had finished speaking on the No Democracy Auckland Reorganisation Bill, I raised the question of whether there were plans for a bigger reorganisation of local government across the country. I asked whether it was conceivable for this bulldozing National Government to create a super council for the whole of the South Island’s 1,017,300 population. In my City, Dunedin, if the Super Council was set up in a similar way to the Auckland Super City, there would be just one councillor representing the whole of Dunedin.

Clearly this is scaremongering, designed to inflame and upset people. It would also appear that despite it being Labour Policy to have an Auckland Super City, she may not in fact be in agreement with it. Notice the deliberate use of inflammatory language – No democracy, bulldozing.

At the moment Dunedin has a city council of 14 counillors, 7 of whom represent Dunedin South, my electorate. Under a Super Council, my electorate might get half a councillor. Less local representation than their MP! I know it’s speculation. But it gives the people in my electorate some idea of the scale of the Auckland Super City and the ridiculous lack of representation of people at a local level. Because this new law leaves more MPs representing the people of Auckland (and potentially Dunedin) than local government representatives. Go figure!

Good try at frightening the people, especially those in Dunedin, but the argument is spurious and Ms Curran knows it.

I thought local government was about local representation. How can an individual ratepayer expect to get a hearing in Auckland?  And if you’re Maori or Pacific (a quarter of Auckland’s population) forget it! With the lack of Maori and Pacific representation on the super city a huge chunk of the population (with specific and sometimes high needs) will be left out.

Unless Adam overlooked something the Royal Commission only recommended racial seats for Maori. They said nothing about Pacific Islanders. So is Ms Curran suggesting seperate seats for Pacific Islanders? What about seats for those of Indian or Chinese ethnicity? Why not seats for those with Dutch ancestry or Yugoslavian for example.

Why this constant obsession, not just with race, but with one racial grouping which in any case is more and more comprised of people whose heritage is not just one ethnicity.

Now back to my speech in the House. Yes it was speculation about a Super Council in the South Island, meant to provide South Islanders (and my constituents) with a sense of perspective on just how lacking in representation this undemocratic law is. But then John Hayes (National) got up to follow me speaking. And he talked about local government in his home patch, the Wairarapa. And he made it clear there were too many Councils and there did need to be amalgamations. So I get the feeling that there’s a bigger plan at play that reaches out beyond Auckland. Are we in for a radical shake-up of local government Mr Hide?

Personally, Adam thinks for a country of this size there are too many local councils. So he would welcome some amalgamations. Adam would have preferred as well that the Government had followed more of the recommendations outlined in the Royal Commission report.

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