Brian Rudman: Forget more MPs, let's get the ones we've got to fight for us

North Shore city councillor and former Alliance activist Tony Holman has revived the idea of an Auckland Party. "Aucklanders need a fair go and we haven't had it," he told the North Shore Times.

If he's serious, there are plenty of blueprints gathering dust in out-trays around town. I seem to recall the Alliance in the mid-1990s launching a Greater Auckland Plan with an Auckland Party thrown in.

This sparked a counter move from politicians of the Right who rushed off to register assorted similar-sounding party names to spoil the Left's plans.

News reports from mid-1995 reveal Chamber of Commerce boss Michael Barnett and former Mayor of Auckland Les Mills backing plans for their version of an Auckland Party.

They and "about 30 other Aucklanders" were moved to act, said Mr Barnett, by "how badly Auckland had been treated by politicians." Wellington-based politicians of course.

One of the conspirators, Phil Warren, chairman of the Auckland Regional Council, told the Herald, "Imagine the fuss down in Wellington with a blatantly parochial Auckland party represented in the House."

He repeated the perennial Auckland chorus of "we always put in more than we get out", in reference to the unfair distribution of petrol taxes. And he warned the idea might become more serious if local MPs did not do a better job of looking after Auckland.

A year later Mr Warren said the project was off but that "we certainly got the local politicians telling us they had mended their ways."

But not, it seems, for long. In October 1999, parliamentarian turned Auckland Mayor, Christine Fletcher departed Parliament with a farewell broadside at its neglect of Auckland.

At the time it seemed incredible that someone who had spent nine years as a Government MP, including time as Minister of Local Government in charge of relations with Auckland, could suddenly turn around and start blaming Parliament for Auckland's woes. Didn't people at the centre of power like herself carry some of the responsibility?

A year later, Waitakere Mayor and Labour Party president Bob Harvey illustrated one of the pitfalls of playing the Auckland card. In a parochial outburst he declared Aucklanders "don't necessarily like anything about the South Island ... We don't like South Island people," then homed in on Wellington, declaring Aucklanders "couldn't give a rat's arse" about the "in-crowd" which ran the place.

At best, an Auckland Party can only garner a minority of votes in the national parliament.

That's supposing all Aucklanders would support it - which most of us won't. We're not tribal beings like the citizens of the Balkans. A sizeable proportion of us were born overseas or elsewhere in New Zealand.

Our voting behaviour is more likely to reflect our economic situation or social beliefs than our place of residence.

What Aucklanders should be focusing on is the inability of the third of parliamentarians who represent Auckland seats, to use their muscle in pursuit of the regional good. At the time of Mrs Fletcher's outburst, National's campaign manager and former chief whip Jeff Grant spoke of how difficult it was to get Auckland's National MPs in the same room together, and laughed at the idea of a cross-party caucus of Aucklanders - compared say, with Southland MPs, who happily got together to discuss local problems.

Things haven't changed. And the Labour Party caucus is no different. In its last nine years in power, the best Labour could do was a Minister for Auckland outside cabinet, and a gaggle of local MPs and ministers who merrily went their own disparate ways.

Ironically, the parliamentarians have instigated a revolution in Auckland local politics because they claim the system is dysfunctional and the Government can never find anyone speaking for Auckland.

Of course this shoe could equally go on the foot of the Government.

One needs only to follow the convoluted process of trying to get Wellington's support for Auckland's rail projects to appreciate what a many-headed beast the Wellington decision-making machine can be.

An Auckland Party is unlikely to break the MMP 5 per cent barrier. And why should it, when both the main parties are headed by Auckland MPs? A more practical solution to get Auckland's voice heard, would be for the third of MPs representing Auckland to work as a team when Auckland issues arise.