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Address to NZ Herald Business Luncheon

Monday 30 August 2010, 2:53PM

By Rodney Hide

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AUCKLAND

Many thanks. First let me congratulate the New Zealand Herald for the extraordinary effort it is making to keep the people of Auckland informed of the change to a single council 1 November

Last week there was a terrific five part series — Auckland Our Story — a series of five mini magazine inserts that covered the birth and growth of this great city. A collector’s item that I am sure will be an invaluable resource for many years to come.

And today the first of four weekly supplements that deal with the Super City itself.

Fran, Chris, you should all be proud of this achievement.

I say this as someone who, along with my ACT colleagues, has been strenuously working to keep you supplied with news over the past few weeks.

And just as you can be proud of your achievements, so too am I of the steps being taken to create a truly great Auckland.

Everything we are setting out to achieve is geared to a single objective.

To make Auckland greater.

We are doing this because Auckland ratepayers are sick of our region being paralysed by the woeful inability of eight councils to agree on anything.

This is about improvement and greater efficiency. This is about what’s good for ratepayers.

This is about providing a service culture from the people in the ratepayers’ pay. From the moment the phone is answered.

This is a plan to attract people and investment.

This is a plan to deliver greater effectiveness, better service and democratic accountability.

This is a plan for a City of the future.

Auckland’s fragmented governance has meant a lack leadership and vision, but soon its leaders will be able to think regionally, plan strategically and act decisively.

They will be able to deliver a united Auckland with effective services for its diverse communities.

Auckland will finally be enabled to achieve world class status and become the economic powerhouse that New Zealand so desperately needs.

And to that end, today I was proud and pleased to announce the appointment of an extremely able group of people to act as chairs and directors of the new Auckland Council’s CCOs.

The Government has been fortunate to have men and women of such high calibre ready to rise to the challenge on behalf of Auckland. These are people whose talents would be welcome anywhere in the world.

What is more, they are all Aucklanders.

They have experience in a multitude of sectors, from high finance to diplomacy.

For most, this is their first foray into local government, but we have a solid core of eleven people who have experience in working on boards of existing Auckland CCOs.

The CCOs are what the reorganisation of Auckland is all about, improved services, less duplication and better value for money for all ratepayers.

The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance was clear in what was needed. One Auckland. One long-term council community plan. One spatial plan. One district plan. One rating system. One rates bill. One voice for Auckland.

And we have delivered. And more.

For nigh on a hundred years Aucklanders have been complaining about an inadequate transport system and waterfront development amongst others. In short, complaining about a dysfunctional city where feudal bickering has stymied progress.

Waiting for someone to fix the problem.

Well, to fix the problem we have done what no government has been prepared to do.

We have been bold, decisive, and yes, radical.

We have produced what has rightly been described as a workable prescription for Auckland’s woes.

From the moment we first proposed the once council structure there have been constant questions about whether it would deliver better service and better value.

I have no doubt that the new CEO Doug McKay will deliver a service-driven culture. Aucklanders from the household to the board room can now confidently anticipate a council driven by the real desire to be helpful and co-operative.

As for value, I have today been advised by the board of Watercare that there will be significant savings to be had for all Auckland water users. The new Auckland Council will provide.

This is just one example of the savings and improved service

From the first of July next year everyone in the current Auckland, Waitakere, Manukau, North Shore and the Orewa/Whangaparaoa area of Rodney District will pay less.

Many, significantly less.

They will all pay the same tariff $1.30, including gst, for 1000 litres of water.

Remember that figure. $1.30.

Taking the current prices and the new GST rate, the good people of Orewa and Whangaparaoa, were looking at paying $2.33 for 1000 litres

That means they are being delivered a saving of more than a dollar per 1000 litres.

Other comparative charges are Metrowater — down from $1.81 to that $1.30. Out in Waitakere their charges drops again, this time from $1.74.

The North Shore drops 22 cents from $1.52 while the fortunate people of Manukau already pay the lowest price in the entire region so their saving is comparatively small, but a saving all the same.

Based on the average household water use of 600 litres a day, households in Orewa and Whangaparaoa will save about $225 a year.

Current Metrowater customers will be $111 better off with Waitakere households saving $96 and on the North Shore there will be a $48 saving while Manukau residents will experience little change.

All this from 1 July next year.

As for wastewater charges, they are not scheduled to change until 1 July 2012 once the new Auckland Council has studied the many and diverse charging regimes that exist today.

For example, Waitakere, North Shore, Rodney and Franklin include wastewater billing in their land rates whereas Metrowater charges on a volumetric basis. And Manukau Water charges a fixed annual amount for residential customers and a volumetric charge for commercial and industrial customers.

So its complicated to unravel and the new council will be entrusted with input to that.

This is what I forecast would happen and Watercare, to its credit, has delivered.

Back to those wastewater prices. Watercare has assured me they will be ever mindful of their requirement to be a low cost provider that cannot return dividends or surpluses to its shareholder.

So, water prices are set to tumble and that’s just the start of the benefits.

On November 1, the Auckland Council, under a single council and mayor will produce strong regional governance, integrated decision-making, greater community engagement and improved value for money.

It will streamline operations and reduce bureaucracy, through consistently delivered policies, lowered fees and costs, simplified paper work and improved customer service across the region.

The improvements won’t happen overnight but rationalising the tangle of plans and policies will deliver consistency.

A single district plan will go a long way towards that.

Costs, and not just water, will be lower with better customer service.

There are a bewildering number of fee categories across the region. Take dogs — there are sixty categories for registering, impounding, and adopting dogs. There will now be half that number with charges dropped to the lowest levels.

Then there are building inspections, currently charged at an hourly rate varying from $110 to $178. In future there will be a standard hourly charge of $110 across the region.

And the resource consent forms! Over 850 forms currently used by councils will be reduced to 120 simplified forms for consistency across the region. Wherever you are in the region, the consent rules will be the same.

I want the Auckland Council to focus on providing a service culture for the people of Auckland — and Doug is promising to deliver that from the moment the phone is answered.

We also need improved performance from central government. I am working with my Ministerial colleagues on how we can better mesh the cogs between Wellington and Auckland.

Critical to all this will be the need for all Aucklanders to think long and hard about the sort of council they want and the person who will be Mayor.

Remember. Aucklanders are about to elect the second most powerful person in the country.

When the Mayor of the new city calls Wellington, the people who answer will know they are talking to someone who represents a full third of the people in New Zealand.

Rather than talking to a divided group of mayors and councils, unable to agree on just about anything, Auckland will now speak with a single voice that central government will not be able to ignore.

It goes without saying that Auckland needs a strong, visionary leader to realise its potential and provide such a forceful, united voice.

The new city cannot afford a mere figurehead, but rather requires a Mayor who will provide the unified leadership it has lacked for a hundred years.

I thank you for your time today. My congratulations once more to the Herald for its sterling effort and long may this great city prosper under its new governance.