It just can not happen

DAVID KEMEYS - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Every resident in Auckland is about to be shafted.

The seven CCOs - council controlled organisations - proposed under Local Government Minister Rodney Hide' supercity legislation are under fire for one reason. They aren't council controlled.

They can do what they like when they like, and they can pay for it with your money without telling you what is going on, dealing with the public in any way, or without any passing nod to democracy.

The supercity legislation proposes one each for transport, the waterfront, water, council’s investments, its property, regional facilities and economic development.

The public will have no say in any of them.

Instead the government will appoint directors who will be responsible for about three-quarters of the services in the city.

Critics claim the government’s record in that area gives them little faith in that process.

Under the Hide plan, unelected directors can pretty much do as they please since they won’t be required to consult residents, let alone front up when things get stuffed up.

This is also a problem for the declared candidates for mayor, John Banks and Len Brown, since any vision they espouse is pretty meaningless.

There must be a rethink.

We said at the start of
this process that the lack of accountability was a disgrace.

We used the saying "no taxation without representation" yet here we have the transport group alone able to spend more than $1 billion without any kind of accountability.

If the council controlled organisations have all that power you could be forgiven for wondering why we are bothering with a mayor, a council and local boards at all.

And sitting back and blaming Wellington doesn’t wash either since there are more government MPs in Auckland and surrounds than you can shake a stick at.

When this business started we were told local councils
would never work, but that we would get community representation.

How these CCOs fit into that defies understanding.

Mr Hide says the organisations will work with "stakeholders" and seek public input, but there is nothing in the law that says they have to.

Do you trust them? We certainly don’t.

But you can make a public submission on the issue until March 26 at www.ata.govt.nz.

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