Brian Rudman: Bureaucrats thumbing noses at the politicians

COMMENT

Revelations that Auckland regional council staff secretly monitor the performance of elected councillors at public meetings make you wonder if the lunatics really have taken over the asylum.

Poor old chairwoman Gwen Bull seems to have failed her test, with a recommendation that "a senior staff member go with Gwen to all her presentations to help her with details of what is happening and why".

As for councillor Brian Smith, he did the unforgivable of speaking "for quite a while before talking to the notes" the bureaucrats had prepared.

Once again in local politics you have to ask who is running the place, the politicians elected to do the job, or their bureaucratic minders?

Nowhere is this question more pertinent than in the saga of the sale of Westhaven. Once more it's a case of the politicians, who are supposed to be in charge, being ignored by the paid minions.

Since Ports of Auckland's announcement last August of its intention to put Westhaven marina up for sale on the international market, just about every politician in Auckland has voiced the desire that this prized waterfront property be preserved for the public of Auckland.

In November the region's mayors united with the regional council chairwoman to vote to begin negotiations with the port company to achieve this aim.

The mayoral forum chairman, Rodney mayor John Laws, spoke for them all when he declared "this is Auckland's waterfront and it belongs to the people. It's vital we secure public ownership because it's a key regional asset that we all care about".

The Minister for Auckland Issues, Judith Tizard, has been vociferous in her opposition to the sale, calling it "backdoor privatisation" and "the last gasp of Bill Birch and Maurice Williamson's efforts to privatise the whole of these assets back in 1998".

Backing her is Associate Revenue Minister David Cunliffe, who says the Auckland Labour MPs are unanimous in their "outrage" that the sale is proceeding.

You would think with that sort of political groundswell that Infrastructure Auckland, the publicly owned investment entity which owns an 80 per cent stake in the port company, would have got the message that we don't want the waterfront land sold.

You might have also thought that the politicians who control Infrastructure Auckland through the shareholders' electoral college would have passed on the message, especially as they happen to be the mayoral forum in another guise.

On both counts, the answer is no.

First the electoral college. Despite their vote, as mayors, to keep the property in public ownership, the college, chaired by Manukau Mayor Sir Barry Curtis, has passed no resolution on the issue on to the port company.

Infrastructure chairman John Robertson says no resolution from the college has come to their attention. Indeed he goes further, saying, "When you say every mayor has a view, we're not aware of that or what those views are in respect to Westhaven. I think I've seen a press release from the North Shore, but that's about all."

Would a resolution affect his attitude?

"If the electoral college passes a resolution I would always take it back to the board for consideration."

You might well ask why the mayors haven't been putting the squeeze on IA over this. Of course, whether Mr Robertson and his board would hear, is another matter.

Yesterday, when I suggested he must be aware of opposition in Government circles to the proposed sale, he said, "No, no, I haven't heard any views from the Government ... on this."

Judith Tizard assures me she has spoken to Mr Robertson on the matter and left him in no doubt of her views. Perhaps it's time she turned up to the next Infrastructure Auckland board meeting with a megaphone, and a clipping file of the political opposition that, somehow, Mr Robertson and his board colleagues seem to have missed.

Here's a brief refresher on some of the points Ms Tizard made then, and repeated to me yesterday. She calls the sale a "breach of trust" and that Infrastructure Auckland is behaving in "extremely bad faith".

"I think IA is deliberately setting out to force this sale through before the people of Auckland get a chance to have a say and they may believe that it is for the benefit of transport and water projects in Auckland. I think they're being bloody minded."

She says the decision lies with the electoral college. "I find it absolutely astonishing that the Auckland territorial authorities can't, or won't, find a solution for their own asset for the benefit of the people of Auckland.

"It just seems to me a failure of will and a failure of co-operation. It's in the power of the electoral college to instruct IA that they don't want to see this property sold."

Most Aucklanders would agree. With election day fast approaching, the mayors would be smart to start instructing.