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Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey is advocating a shift of government north from Wellington while his colleagues from the North Shore and Auckland City are split.
Mr Harvey told the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance that the world's Pacific capital should be re-instated as New Zealand's capital.
"I think there's a case for the capital to be moved to Auckland. A quarter of the population lives here, it's the economic powerhouse of the country, it's the Pacific capital of the world," he said.
He made the submission as an individual and not as a representative of the Waitakere Council and was questioned by the Commission for an hour.
Mr Harvey told nzherald.co.nz Wellington was the size of Waitakere and would not have the same problems as Auckland if it was separated from the capital.
He said the capital could be built in South Auckland, near the airport and was quick to point out he was not arguing for the capital to be built in Waitakere.
"We're not putting down Wellington. This is not an Auckland versus Wellington thing and after all, they can't say much, they stole the Wearable Arts from Nelson without a moment's hesitation.
"Wellington is a very small town on the end of the great fish of Maui. Nothing more and nothing less," Mr Harvey said.
He said having the capital in Auckland would see the "political and economic players lining up as in Singapore, I see Auckland as the Singapore of the twenty first century".
He said the issue is now in the hands of the commission.
Auckland mayor John Banks was taken aback by the idea.
"Yeah right, and you want the mayor of Auckland City to make a comment on that? Dear me, dear me," Mr Banks said.
He said the idea was about 155 years too late.
"He's a very, very funny man and he's got a lot of very good ideas but this isn't one of them. Having said that, Parliament should never have left Auckland," Mr Banks said.
But over on the North Shore, mayor Andrew Williams was supportive saying a move north would be a "jolly good idea".
"Wellington would be turned into a glorified ferry terminal and it would put Auckland back to its rightful position as the capital of New Zealand," Mr Williams said.
He said if there was such support for Auckland becoming a "Supercity" amongst Wellington bureaucrats then it made sense to make Auckland the capital.
"We could then do away with huge numbers of bureaucrats and we could run Auckland as both the hub of the economy and the capital of the country."
Mr Williams added that the only good thing to come out of Wellington was the road to Auckland.
The first capital of New Zealand was Kororareka, near Russell in the Bay of Islands.
The town, known as the "Hell Hole of the Pacific" was named the capital following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
But the small northern town only held its status as capital for one year before Auckland was chosen as the seat of Government.
In 1854, the first session of Parliament in New Zealand took place with 37 Parliamentarians swearing allegiance to the Crown.
Auckland was the capital for a further 10 years before moving to Wellington in 1865.
The move followed 10 years of argument with some parliamentarians from the southern provinces taking two months to travel to the capital while it was in Auckland.
Australian commissioners were appointed to make the decision to move to Wellington.
Sources:
New Zealand History Online: www.nzhistory.net.nz
New Zealand Parliament: www.parliament.nz
- NZHERALD STAFF
