
The Select Committee
A beautiful day at Onetangi, had the usual suspects and other concerned residents huddled into a dark room to submit on the Supercity GAC concept. To their credit, the Select Committee seemed on the whole to be listening, with committee members asking pertinent questions and showing interest in Waiheke issues.
The waste contract came up again and again as a focus for community dissatisfaction with Auckland City Council decision-making, as a reflection of the negative and anti-participatory culture at ACC and as an illustration of the fact we need a community board with more authority and power to make budgetary decisions. Both in terms of local awareness of local issues, but also because we have an educated and committed population that is keen to self-manage its affairs.
Tony Sears opened with a plea for local decision-making, this was followed by me, for the Campaign for Fair Ferry Fares, talking about the sorry state of public transport and the need to have a transport management plan which meets the needs of islanders as well as tourists.
Brent followed with a radio submission on the importance of radio for participatory democracy and the support we've had from the Community Board which makes this possible. We found out that the Hon. John Carter, chairman of the committee was also chairman of Dargaville community radio for 4 years.
Bernard Rhodes spoke on the biosphere reserve idea and Nikki Kaye asked for more information on this to be provided.
I didn't sit through it all but the calibre of submissions was incredibly high, making me proud to live in this community - Speakers offered a range of theoretical perspectives or anecdotal stories which reflected their commitment to local democracy, the importance of protecting Waiheke Island from turning into another suburb, and which showed a strong awareness that the Supercity represents a consolidation of power which needs to be addressed.
Check out the coverage - Click the links
John Carter Podcast
One News
NZ Herald
It would be great if submitters posted comments on their view of the proceedings or comments that they made at the hearings.