Half-baked boundary decision by dithering Government

The Government’s embarrassing dithering over Auckland boundaries has resulted in an appropriate 11th hour u-turn on Rodney, but the decision to stick with its proposed southern boundary makes no sense at all, says Labour's Auckland Issues spokesperson Phil Twyford.

“The southern boundary decision will partition Franklin in a nonsensical manner which will see the towns of Waiuku and Pukekohe split right down the middle.

It puts valuable Auckland assets such as the Mangatangi and Mangatawhiri dams, as well as Hunua and other regional parks outside Auckland.

“To quote the local National MP Paul Hutchison this is ‘the worst possible scenario’. As Dr Hutchison has rightly said, the southern boundary should have been pushed south to the Waikato River in line with the Royal Commission’s recommendations,” Phil Twyford says.

“The Government’s u-turn on Rodney will come as a welcome relief to almost everyone. The question remains as to how it got it so wrong in the first place.

“John Key’s attempts to lay the blame on reports he got back from the select committee process are a lame excuse. The fact is the Government has dithered around on the issue, made the wrong call and has been forced to adopt the initial Royal Commission recommendation in the wake of a widespread public outcry.

“Franklin residents will wonder why their similar concerns have been ignored. Perhaps it was too ignominious a prospect for John Key to have to back down on both fronts – but he will regret this too.

“In light of the shambolic, ill-thought through handling of the Auckland governance reforms to date, it is no surprise that the Government has also confirmed today that it will go into urgency to pass the second Auckland governance Bill, which confirms the shape of the super city,” Phil Twyford says.

“It is frankly contemptuous given the rocky road so far and the Government’s lack of confidence in its own select committee process – and evidently Associate Local Government Minister John Carter who chaired it.

“Parliament should have been given a decent opportunity to debate the Bill, but as with the first Bill, the Government has opted to ram in through under urgency.”

ENDS

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