Pondering a new Auckland

In the Herald, Bernard Orsman reports on the progress of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. As one might expect, the various communities of interest advance their own interests. After North Shore City and Manukau had made their presentations, Justice Salmon commented:

"I would like to see the big councils expressing a view that put Auckland first. What we get from each of them is expressing a view putting their own territories first."

In my view, this strikes to the very heart of the issue for Auckland and one could extend it to the whole of the country without too much effort.

In my own submission, I argued for a single Council for the whole Auckland region provided the Council was elected by a ward-based STV voting system. If it were to be elected by First Past the Post (FPP), I would oppose amalgamation altogether in favour of retaining the existing fragmented structure. Any new Auckland must be robustly democratic and strongly representative. STV, properly configured, allows all significant minorities to win representation. First Past the Post gives representation to the one or two largest minorities only, and excludes all others. FPP is poor democracy and would ultimately undermine the legitimacy of the new Auckland Council as most voters would not have voted for the people who claimed to represent them.

The new unified Council would need to have at least 35 Councilors. Preferably 50. It the number was too small, then Councilors would be inaccessible to most people. The more Councilors you have, the fewer Community Boards would be required. Run that equation in both directions.

There would be no need for a regional body as the unified Council would serve both roles with Community Boards being advocates for various communities.

I can see a role for specific Maori representation, perhaps in a parallel set of region-wide "Maori wards" or maybe by guaranteeing several seats to the highest polling Maori candidates on the common roll. It depends on whether you want just Maori to choose these Councilors or all voters to haver a say. Arguments will run in both directions.

I'm vague / flexible on the details because my primary interest is in a single Council that has the power and reach to do what needs to be done with the infrastructure for the entire region without wasting years - even decades - tangled in parochial interests.

For example, the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) is knobbled in almost every direction. They carry the responsibility for public transport but appear to lack most of the authority that would allow them to actually do it properly.

Not least among the constraints is the dreadfully wasteful "funder / provider" split between ARTA and a dozen or more private operators. Ticketing is a mess and taking years to sort out. Pricing is too high. Bus routes often don't integrate with train timetables. In many cases, they don't even go to the stations. Some idiot built Britomart with only one rail line in or out and no bus hub. You have to leave Britomart and wander around the CBD looking for your bus and - separately - the vendor who sells concession tickets for that particular operator. Britomart doesn't.
Transfers are poorly integrated, often requiring people, assuming they are able enough, to make long walks between carriers, up hill or down, rain or shine.

It won't get any better until the political environment changes and that won't happen until a new, empowered Council can build transit hubs, re-align roads and MAKE it happen.