On the other hand you might say this was the beating heart of local democracy, even if most of the heads in the hall were grey.
The meeting was organised by Sustainable Wairarapa, a group of business people who believe the region stands to benefit from the Local Government Commission’s proposal to establish a “super city” encompassing Wellington, the Hutt Valley, Porirua, Kapiti and the Wairarapa.
To promote their case they enlisted former Waitakere mayor Sir Bob Harvey and Greg Moyle, who serves on the Waitemata community board in the Auckland super-city. The idea was that they would tell us how much better off Auckland was following amalgamation.
They might not have been the best choice. Here were two politicians from New Zealand’s biggest, most densely populated urban area presuming to tell the residents of a sparsely populated farming region at the other end of the North Island that joining a super city could only be good for them.
I would have been more interested in hearing the views of someone from Rodney or Franklin, two semi-rural districts that were either wholly or partly press-ganged into joining Auckland.
Even those two districts are not strictly comparable with the Wairarapa, which is rural heartland rather than a lifestyle belt, but I imagine their residents might have quite a different verdict on the benefits of amalgamation.
Besides, Harvey and Moyle are insiders, embedded in the system. It’s in their interests to talk up Auckland’s governance arrangements.
Harvey chairs Waterfront Auckland, one of the highly contentious CCOs (council-controlled organisations) that have caused so much ill-feeling among Aucklanders since the supercity was created in 2010.
He’s a sincere man and an engaging speaker with long experience in local government, but he can’t claim to know the Wairarapa.
He also seems to have an ad man’s faith in empty slogans. “You have to trust the future”, he said at one point, sounding like one of the billboards he might have created in his advertising agency days.
Moyle spent more time talking about himself than about the issue and admitted he knew nothing about the region he had come to advise, “apart from drinking a lot of Martinborough pinot noir”. He even struggled with pronunciation, referring more than once to “Waipara”.
All this leaves me in a bit of quandary. My wife and I have lived in Masterton since 2003. It suits us, as it does the many refugees from Wellington who have moved here.
I’m open to persuasion that amalgamation would be the best thing for the Wairarapa, as many respected business and community leaders argue. But no one has convinced me yet.
In fact, although not a religious man, I find myself slowly coming around to the view that God had a reason for putting the Rimutaka Hill where it is.
Much of the propaganda seems to hinge on what might happen to us economically if we’re cut loose from wealthy Wellington. We’re too small and weak, the argument goes, to survive on our own. The proponents of amalgamation have played the fear card rather too much.
I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t think it would be a good idea to merge Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa councils. But amalgamation with Wellington? That’s another proposition entirely. We’re different from Wellington culturally, demographically and economically.
Most of all, I worry about what it would mean for representative government. The Wairarapa would have only two of the 21 seats on the proposed supercity council. The centre of power would be too far removed from those affected.
Do I trust Wellington-based councillors to understand what’s best for the Wairarapa? No, and it doesn’t help that when I look at the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which is the closest thing we’ve got to a super council, I see a coterie of former Labour and Green MPs – professional politicians who seem unable to wean themselves off the public teat.
Am I convinced that the democratic deficit will be made up by the proposed community boards? No. It certainly doesn’t seem to have worked out that way in Auckland.
Do I trust the Local Government Commission, with their misplaced faith in the virtues of Big Government? Not for a moment. They can’t even get their figures right.
Karl du Fresne blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz. This article was first published in The Dominion Post, February 20.
They might not have been the best choice. Here were two politicians from New Zealand’s biggest, most densely populated urban area presuming to tell the residents of a sparsely populated farming region at the other end of the North Island that joining a super city could only be good for them.
I would have been more interested in hearing the views of someone from Rodney or Franklin, two semi-rural districts that were either wholly or partly press-ganged into joining Auckland.
Even those two districts are not strictly comparable with the Wairarapa, which is rural heartland rather than a lifestyle belt, but I imagine their residents might have quite a different verdict on the benefits of amalgamation.
Besides, Harvey and Moyle are insiders, embedded in the system. It’s in their interests to talk up Auckland’s governance arrangements.
Harvey chairs Waterfront Auckland, one of the highly contentious CCOs (council-controlled organisations) that have caused so much ill-feeling among Aucklanders since the supercity was created in 2010.
He’s a sincere man and an engaging speaker with long experience in local government, but he can’t claim to know the Wairarapa.
He also seems to have an ad man’s faith in empty slogans. “You have to trust the future”, he said at one point, sounding like one of the billboards he might have created in his advertising agency days.
Moyle spent more time talking about himself than about the issue and admitted he knew nothing about the region he had come to advise, “apart from drinking a lot of Martinborough pinot noir”. He even struggled with pronunciation, referring more than once to “Waipara”.
All this leaves me in a bit of quandary. My wife and I have lived in Masterton since 2003. It suits us, as it does the many refugees from Wellington who have moved here.
I’m open to persuasion that amalgamation would be the best thing for the Wairarapa, as many respected business and community leaders argue. But no one has convinced me yet.
In fact, although not a religious man, I find myself slowly coming around to the view that God had a reason for putting the Rimutaka Hill where it is.
Much of the propaganda seems to hinge on what might happen to us economically if we’re cut loose from wealthy Wellington. We’re too small and weak, the argument goes, to survive on our own. The proponents of amalgamation have played the fear card rather too much.
I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t think it would be a good idea to merge Masterton, Carterton and South Wairarapa councils. But amalgamation with Wellington? That’s another proposition entirely. We’re different from Wellington culturally, demographically and economically.
Most of all, I worry about what it would mean for representative government. The Wairarapa would have only two of the 21 seats on the proposed supercity council. The centre of power would be too far removed from those affected.
Do I trust Wellington-based councillors to understand what’s best for the Wairarapa? No, and it doesn’t help that when I look at the Greater Wellington Regional Council, which is the closest thing we’ve got to a super council, I see a coterie of former Labour and Green MPs – professional politicians who seem unable to wean themselves off the public teat.
Am I convinced that the democratic deficit will be made up by the proposed community boards? No. It certainly doesn’t seem to have worked out that way in Auckland.
Do I trust the Local Government Commission, with their misplaced faith in the virtues of Big Government? Not for a moment. They can’t even get their figures right.
Karl du Fresne blogs at karldufresne.blogspot.co.nz. This article was first published in The Dominion Post, February 20.
7 comments:
Karl,
Any chance your might get God to move the Rimutaka Hills north after your vote on amalgamation?
We could then use that hill and its access road to cut off the city of Hamilton and its debt; before a Super Council is forced upon the whole Waikato/King Country/BOP and surrounding areas.
Brian
Hi Karl
I suggest you speak to former Cr Des Morrison, who is a longstanding and highly regarded Franklin representative. When I bumped into him in the street earlier this week (he was on his way to his current role on the Auckland Unitary Plan Hearing Panel), he confirmed to me that while Franklin was 80:20 opposed to being included in the Auckland Council amalgamation, that is now turned around. It is generally accepted in Franklin that the amalgamation has proved beneficial. Franklin has a achieved a level of sustainable development and economic viability significantly ahead of what it could, and did, achieve on its own.
Regards
Wendy Brandon
Wendy,
You might be interested in my latest column on the subject:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/columnists/67020747/Amalgamation-changes-tack
Regards,
Karl
hey Karl: God put the Rimutaka's there to keep sensible people away from Masterton. I drifted through last year coming south in the car;
I said " Jesus dear wife we have to get out of this place . lets try Carterton"
Well, Wendy, I live in East Auckland and have yet to meet even one resident who thinks the Auckland amalgamation has worked out well. Rodney residents certainly don't, and the rest are apoplectic at the projected rates rises and reduction in amenities being pushed through to finance Loopy Len's train set! The white water rafting project in Manukau is a scandal - we were told it would not cost ratepayers a cent but then discovered they were handed land worth many millions of dollars at no cost. Just like Barry Curtis's Pacific Events centre which has been a burden on the ratepayers ever since.
Wendy,
I live in Franklin and every discussion or comment is about how bad the amalgamation has been for us. The politicians and current councillors support the super city's as the bigger the better, for them. They want more prestige and power. Auckland is an unruly bureaucracy
with no control.
Paul Scott: You may have noted there's a bypass around Masterton. By the sound of things, both you and Masterton would be better off if you took it.
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