Auckland Council’s budget which should have been passed on a pro forma vote succeeded this week by the narrowest of margins with a transport levy that Sky City pays the same amount as a Piha resident and where the share of rates that business pays continues to decrease. Time to rethink supercity?
Ngati Whatua and Waikato-Tainui have announced that they will seek a declaration from the High Court on their rights to participate in the constructing of social housing on Crown land in Auckland. Their proposal that the Crown joins with them in making a joint application is a good one. Surely Nick Smith will agree to this.
From the I kid you not files Mike Hosking believes that Auckland Council is to blame for the housing crisis, not immigration, not favourable tax conditions for landlords, not the global financial crisis and not the lack of restrictions on home ownership. And he believes that Nick Smith should step in and Roll Auckland Council.
Ports of Auckland’s recent behaviour outlines a major weakness with Auckland super city. Corporate interests are able to take precedence over the wishes of our democratically elected representatives.
Nick Smith’s latest pronouncements on ECan are an insult to Cantabrians – and a chilling precedent for any other regional councils who step out of line.
The Nats’ takeover of Environment Canterbury is the greatest attack on democratic rights ever seen in this country. They are about to extend the period of imposed rule, because a fully elected body carries “too many risks”. If you think the people of Canterbury can actually be trusted with democracy you can sign the petition.
Bernard Orsman has reported in the Herald today that Len Brown’s campaign team no longer back him and are considering support for a Phil Goff run for the mayoralty.
The Labour Local Government Council ran a hui last Friday in Wellington. I went along and it was one of the better Labour events I have been to in a long time – community-based organisers sharing and discussing what works. Crosby/Textor is onto it too.
Happy Birthday Auckland. Body in The Herald comments on “A splendid anniversary”…
Senior political reporters Vern Small and John Armstrong have both chosen to pan Nick Smith’s proposed RMA changes using remarkably similar logic. Update: and Fran O’Sullivan has a go too.
Yesterday it was announced that Auckland is the ninth least affordable city in the world requiring 8.3 times their average wage to buy a home. Reducing regulation hasn’t worked, otherwise more than 20 homes would have been built under the 2013 fast track accord. The problem is a shortage of affordable housing.
Despite local opposition Auckland Transport intends to fell six prominent Pohutukawa to make way for an extra road lane with dubious transport benefits.
The Herald today suggested John Banks is thinking of another tilt at the Super City Mayoralty. This video shows why he should never be trusted with this position.
Good news citizens! The National government has revealed unto us today the cause of poverty and inequality.
Rental housing remains unaffordable for many. The problem is the greed of investors & speculators, supported by a culture in which housing investment is seen as a way to individual prosperity.
A quiet shift in a dodgy Key govt-SkyCity deal: TVNZ land, sold to SkyCity for its convention centre, is to be used for a new hotel. Plus: non-mandated deal between Auckland Transport Authority & a US corporate – intense surveillance of Aucklanders’ diverse activities.
Helen Kelly is interviewed on Vote Chat. Kelly raises questions about the Ports of Auckland & Key’s role in Dirty Politics. She has read some of Dirty Politics, & was axed from today’s the Nation Panel, then replaced by Josie Pagani.[Updated]
Power has been concentrated into the figure of one man – a man who has in recent weeks shown that he thinks he is above the rule of law. You might think your one vote doesn’t make much of a difference – but it is everything to us here. Another three years of National and Brownlee, and we might not have a vote at a local level at all.
National has been sucking billions of dollars out of the provincial road maintenance budgets to throw into “Roads of Significance only to National” since 2009. In the latest round, maintenance costs for roads mostly used by trucks will drop to an average of 52%, with the small populations of ratepayers expected to subsidize trucking firms. Is it any wonder that they’re looking at National’s token gesture over the weekend with disdain and anger. Meanwhile the urban centres aren’t getting the public transport they need.
Almost a week after last week’s storm, some people in West Auckland are only just getting their power back on, while others are still without hot water. Some parts of Auckland’s west are becoming increasingly neglected under John Key’s watch, especially since the centralising-moves following Hide’s blueprint for the “supercity”.
An NZ Herald article about Mai Chen’s book on Auckland Council, supports big power, big money, big competition, and economic activities focused on anything but the production of material needs and wants. It ignores the struggling precariat living with housing, income, transport and energy poverty.
Out of sight-out of mind seems to be the logic of Auckland City’s bylaw to come into effect next month, to outlaw begging on the streets. The clear message from Native Affairs report, ‘Walk on By‘, last night, is that the bylaw is the result of pressure from the comfortable middle classes. [Update: bylaw only says it’s an offence where begging causes a nuisance]
Mai Chen argues that the current review of Auckland Council CCOs will put them on a tighter leash. Tony Holman argues against the whole CCO set up: it’s a trojan horse, 2 step towards privatisation of Auckland assets. Aucklanders need to have their say. Vote out Team Key to prevent such sales.
Daljit Singh got an inappropriately short sentence for committing electoral fraud. It is hardly a deterrent to prospective politicians from trying to fiddle the electoral system. What was interesting was the way that the fraud was picked up – using back end systems. Far better than the type of populist stupidity to intimidate voters that National MP’s are currently supporting.
The fiasco of the wet dick and the perverts shuddered to a conclusion yesterday with the direct bill of around $250,000. Len Brown was strong-armed into paying $40,000 for the audit which turned up nothing much except that his wife brought a lot of hotel nights. Questions remain about who was responsible for the waste caused by the lack of scoping of the external audit. Looks like dirty politics at the ratepayers expense.
Auckland Council probably has only 100 days left to sort itself out. Otherwise it is going to be a long three years where the prospects of good being achieved will be poor.
The Local Government Commission is currently proposing to crush a number of local bodies together into the same kind of mess that the Auckland super city has been suffering. Undemocratic and divorced from anything local because only a wealthy few can consider standing and those few can ignore any local wishes from the token local boards. The only defense that citizens have against the LGC is to force binding poll. Be ready to do so for Northland and Hastings/Napier.
It should be the name of a group from a bizarro version of the 1960’s. But no, it is what passes for the governance of the Auckland City Council these days. There is our mayor with his wet dick. Then we have the five perverts who are busy emoting faux outrage whilst quietly forgetting that we elected them to help run a city. Dick Quax, Cameron Brewer, and the handful of other perverts in council can play with that aspect of their lives on their own time.
Media beat-ups around personality politics divert from Auckland’s real problems: an undemocratic council structure that panders to corporates, & that does not represent Auckland’s diversity, while doing little to counter the destructive impact of the inequality gap.
Today’s Herald editorial gets one thing right – a media pack has turned on Len Brown. But it’s not gutsy journalism – it comes straight out of the Rupert Murdoch playbook. Len’s latest sin is his upgrades – EY says they total $32,000 for 64 occasions. That’s $500 an upgrade, which seems a lot on top of what Len paid. The report does not detail how this total was arrived at, and I cannot find any example of any journalist asking questions about it.
Cameron Brewer apparently forgot to file a declaration of interests in 2012 which should have included details of a four day junket to the Gold Coast paid for by Mediaworks. Dick Quax forgot to file returns in 2011 and 2012. Is an investigation required?
It was the best of times in Wellington today. Council workers will get a living wage, and parking wardens will become council employees so they will get decent pay also. It was the worst of times in Auckland as the right-wing Scrooges having failed to remove Mayor Len Brown took it out on their workers by overturning his call for a living wage for Council staff.
Today’s Council meeting will no doubt develop a great deal of heat but little light. And then hopefully everyone can settle down and working on the real job which is to create Auckland into a great city.
The right wing NZ Herald editors, have misused their position in the news mediascape to produce some shameless, highly partisan and manipulative propaganda. They do not have the interest of all Aucklanders at heart. More considered analysis needed. Let’s wait for tomorrow’s public meeting.
