Super-city will be felt all over

The shape of the proposed Auckland super-city has been unveiled - but plans to shake up the councils and governance of the country's commercial capital is set to have a big impact on the rest of the country too.

In the wake of the report by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, released on Friday, the whole country could pay for Auckland to have its own minister, Cabinet committee and auditor.

The period of office for all New Zealand councils could be stretched to four years instead of three. And other regions - such as Wellington - may follow in Auckland's footsteps and have their rates, transport and water services similarly thrown into one basket.

The long-awaited report, intended to do away with Auckland's jumbled, unco-ordinated local government structure, suggests a single, unitary Auckland Council ruling the region, with six local councils implementing its decisions. (Currently there are seven territorial councils plus a regional one, and they are often at odds with each other.)

The report recommends Auckland get its own minister again - a job the previous government set up, then dropped - plus its own Cabinet committee.

Auckland Regional Council's chairman Mike Lee says this is unnecessary. "I don't think you need an Auckland minister. All the ministers have responsibilities that relate to Auckland."

Lee - who plans to run as leader of the new super-city, against Auckland City mayor John Banks - says instead, the Auckland "super mayor" role should be beefed up.

The commissioners say a four- year term would allow more time for the council to deliver on election promises and make long-term decisions. And they say it wouldn't work for Auckland to have a local election every four years without the rest of the country following suit.

Wellington's mayor Kerry Prendergast said yesterday talks were already under way about combining the Wellington region's councils. There was a "clear message" that whatever came out of the Auckland report would have implications for the rest of the country, she said.

The proposed job of super- mayor is less powerful than many expected before the report's publication. Rather than advocating a London-style mayor with sweeping powers to unilaterally pass pet policies (such as Ken Livingstone's central London congestion charge), the commissioners suggest the mayor should need a majority from 23 councillors to get policy through.

"Instead of having one voice coming out of Auckland, we could have a cacophony," Lee says.

Of the 23, 10 "super councillors" would be elected across the region - which could lead to rivalry with the super mayor, Lee says.

Auckland would also get an independent auditor, paid for by the government, to check all council services are reliable and affordable.

Water and wastewater services would come under a single entity, controlled by the Auckland Council.

Murray Gibb, chief executive of Water New Zealand, says the same reforms should be rolled out across the country - including making people pay for water consumption. Just 11 of 73 territorial councils currently charge per unit. Gibb says user-pays motivates people to use less. Auckland uses a per-capita 200 litres of water a day, Kapiti Coast 650 litres and Queenstown 700.

* www.royalcommission.govt.nz

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