Friday, May 15, 2009



National shows who it cares about

With the legislation almost rammed through Parliament, National has begun public consultation on its supercity plans, announcing a series of public meetings across Auckland - which seems a little arse-backwards to me. But the Hand Mirror notices something interesting about the locations:

Where are they?

Let's break them down by existing TLA boundaries:

  • Rodney - 1 meeting
  • Waitakere City - 1 meeting
  • Auckland City - 8 meetings
  • Manukau City - 1 meeting
  • Franklin - 1 meeting
North Shore City and Papakura? No mentions.
Which tells us very clearly whose views National cares about on this issue - and its not those of the majority of Aucklanders who live outside of Auckland City proper. Which is all the more reason for them to have a voice through a referendum.

Meanwhile, its also worth noting that the government is fronting this with Associate Minister John Carter, rather than Rodney Hide. What, are they afraid people will throw rotten fruit at him or something?