MANA: Wellington City Council Super City Proposal

17 June 2013

Wellington City Council has got it wrong wanting to recommend a super-city, says MANA Newtown Branch Chairperson, Ariana Paretutanganui-Tamati.

Instead of going along with creating a super city, where there will be fewer  democratically-elected representatives, the Council should have held a referendum of Wellingtonians to find out whether they wanted change at all.

"MANA Newtown opposes both the Wellington City Council's proposal for a greater council and the Wellington Regional  Council's two-tiered proposal because neither involves greater participation in decisionmaking by ordinary people. Instead local government in Wellington should be based on participatory democracy."

A paper to the Council's Strategy and Policy Committee states that most people support reform of local government in Wellington but this is only based on submission she says. Before any further action is taken on changing local government there should be a  referendum asking whether people want change.

The reorganisation is not just about how we will be governed but it is also about  commercialising services such as water. If Auckland is anything to go by most services provided by the Council will be provided by companies and water metering will become compulsory.

The introduction of compulsory water metering is favoured by Regional Council Chair Fran Wilde, who chaired the Task Force on Local Government Efficiency. The Task Force has produced a report, which among other things recommends regional control of water supplies and universal water metering.

ENDS

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