For the past couple of weeks the Auckland Governance Committee has been hearing submissions in Auckland on the latest phase of the government's "supercity" reforms. The message from submitters has been universal: they want to live in a democracy, not a corporation. They want things like transport, water, and the waterfront to be controlled by democratically elected and accountable councillors, not unelected, unaccountable party hacks appointed from Wellington.
Today, Infrastructure Minister responded to those concerns. His response was simple: fuck you. Aucklanders will not get to control their own city. The most the government is prepared to offer is "consultation" on which hacks it will appoint. And he sees no problem with Aucklanders paying for local services they have no control over.
If we tried to run Tokelau like this, the UN would be breathing down our neck for unacceptable colonialism. But National is planning to run our largest city through what is effectively a colonial administration, with key decisions kept out of the hands of the "natives". We didn't accept that overseas, and we shouldn't accept it in Auckland.
