Posts by Matthew Poole
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Sofie, certainly no assumption on my part that all, or even most, Maori live in Manukau City. Manukau is the second-largest of the constituent cities, though, and the one that's routinely billed as having the highest population of Polynesians, so it's the obvious target if one's looking for evidence that Maori can get themselves elected to local bodies without any racial preferment.
I've asked someone I know who works at Parliament to see if the Parliamentary Library has information on councillor ethnicities on the present councils. It would take an absence of non-Maori under the current system to convince me that they need special treatment.
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Couple of things.
1) Under-paying political figures is a sure-fire way to encourage corruption. Especially when they have parts to play in decisions surrounding spending private-sector money, such as determining the shape of the district plan. We do not want to go down that route. Much as I think that MPs are overpaid for what they deliver, their position in the very upper levels of the national income distribution does make them quite hard to bribe. After all, they make considerably more than most business owners.
2) I'm not sorry to see the Maori seats go. It's not "acceptable" to say so, I'm sure, but I'm not. If Maori want representation, they can stand alongside all the other candidates. There's no shortage of qualified Maori with high profiles. How many Maori councillors on Manukau City Council? Isn't Len Brown Maori? Consultation with iwi and hapu for any kind of decision that impacts them is already required. If they want more influence they can ensure that their candidates are the best ones for the job, rather than seeking to manipulate race. I bet there'll be at least one Pacific Island councillor, and at least one Asian, and they'll get there without any special preference. -
They're not privatising Watercare
...yet. Rodney's views on government providing (waste)water services are well-known, and they're not compatible with the above statement. All this "We won't privatise anything in this term of Government" nonsense just means the inevitable is delayed until the next term. If Rodney returns after the next election, and is once again Monster of Local Government, expect some big shake-ups in council-owned assets and service providers.
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Is anyone else wondering whether the Supercity could be the first step in a plan to centralise control of public assets and services prior to hocking them off into private (corporate) ownership.
No, the first step was Rodney getting the post of Monster of Local Government. He's made no secret of his desire to get councils out of the provision of anything other than "core" services, which one assumes is code for having them contract out all their operations other than rubber-stamping paperwork for building plans.
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Why does everyone assume Banks will win? Why not someone like Len Brown or Bob Harvey? They're popular mayors and don't attract the same degree of antipathy as Banks.
They don't attract the same level of personal liquidity as Banks, either. In an executive mayoral campaign, it's all about money because that's how you get in front of a million potential voters. Banks is rich, and can buy the media time. Brown and Harvey don't have the same resources.
One can't help but suspect, too, that the necessary revision of spending limits for local body elections will be heavily tilted in favour of candidates with loads of dosh.
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To get less than 30 community boards you need 47,000 per board area or more
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this probably means yes to a CBD boardExcept that I don't think the population of the CBD even hits 40k, never mind being nearer 50. Maybe CBD+Parnell or +Ponsonby? Or is "CBD" being defined as encompassing College Hill and bits of Newton? Say, Grafton Gully/Ponsonby ridge/waterfront/Newton Rd?
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Kyle, I thought the South Island was adequately covered by Agriculture. After all, we're regularly told that what's good for the farmers is good for the country, and most of what the South Island produces comes from farming.
Extracting tongue from cheek, given how paranoid much of the country is about Auckland's clout, including paranoia in the halls of Parliament itself, I'd have thought a Minister just to keep our uppity local pollies in check would've been a wise idea. Instead we'll be lobbying a dozen of them, or more, every time there's a problem.
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Not so impressed with there not even being a Minister for Auckland, I have to say. A quarter of the population, something like a third of tax revenue, and it's not worth even one person in Central Government having a brief to keep an eye on things? That's a bit off, really.
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OK, so I braved KB. But I'm pleading temporary insanity if anyone asks.
It's beautiful. All the righteous, self-centred indignation. You'd think Shon Key had deliberately picked the second most-offensive (Helen was taken, after all) person possible, just to spite all the RWNJs who view (viewed?) him as somewhere to the right of Messianic.
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Cheers, Graeme. That's the provision that was lurking in the back of my mind.