First blood to left in boundary changes

Michael Barnett. Photo / Supplied

The battle lines to control the Auckland Super City have been drawn, with first blood going to the left.

Yesterday, the Local Government Commission released the final boundaries for 12 wards for the Auckland Council and 21 local boards.

There was much political interest in the decision to split the earlier proposed two-member ward of Orakei-Maungakiekie into separate wards.

The earlier proposal almost guaranteed the right-wing ticket, Citizens & Ratepayers, would win both seats with candidates from the wealthy eastern suburbs. Creating separate Orakei and Maungakiekie-Tamaki wards made the latter ward winnable, said the left's City Vision leader and Maungakiekie city councillor, Richard Northey.

C&R president, John Slater, declined to comment on the boundary changes and the squeeze facing the organisation in its traditional stronghold.

It is understood that C&R councillors Doug Armstrong and Ken Baguley were lined up for the two-member ward. The executive will now have to choose between them for the safe Orakei ward.

The centre-right ticket is well advanced on selecting a regionwide ticket expected to include a number of former politicians and high-profile candidates, including former Auckland City Mayor Christine Fletcher, former National MP Ian Revell and Christine Rankin.

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive and Auckland regional councillor Michael Barnett has already been selected by C&R to contest the Waitemata and Gulf ward.

He will go up against Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee, who has announced that he will stand in the central city ward.

The commission has made significant changes from its November proposal for 12 wards and 19 local boards after receiving 736 submissions.

The biggest changes are splitting the Orakei-Maungakiekie ward and the creation of two new local boards - Upper Harbour (from Whenuapai to Albany) and Henderson-Massey.

Both local boards carve off parts of the earlier proposed Waitakere ward, much to the disappointment of Waitakere Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse, who said the council had advocated keeping Waitakere as one big ward to hold the community together.

Another big issue addressed by the commission has been to put all of Mt Eden and Kingsland into the Albert-Eden-Roskill ward.

There has also been a name change to Waitemata and Gulf after protests about the "theft" of the name Maungawhau (Mt Eden) for the central city ward.

The commission has also addressed the big discrepancies in voter power in the Super City. The votes of citizens in some wards were worth less than votes in other parts of Auckland.

This was because the commission had not met the legal requirements to create wards with a plus or minus 10 per cent rule for fair representation.

Hardest done by was the Maungawhau-Hauraki Gulf ward, under-represented by 24.3 per cent with one councillor for 88,000 people.

The final boundaries are largely within the plus or minus 10 per cent rule. A noticeable exception is the Rodney ward, which is over-represented by 24.8 per cent with one councillor for 54,100 people.

This has come about because the Government insisted on a single rural ward for Rodney.

In the south, Kariotahi Beach and Paparimu will now be included within the Auckland boundaries.

Rodney district has vowed to keep fighting its inclusion in the Super City.

Commission chairwoman Sue Piper said she and the two other commissioners, Grant Kirby and Gwen Bull, had worked to achieve the best possible outcome for Aucklanders within the Super City legislation.