KEY POINTS:
The sun's been shining for two days, our Olympic medallists are home all aglow and the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill has sailed into law, 113 votes to seven in favour. Everything seems so right with the world that if I were the Prime Minister, I'd be rushing
the general election through tomorrow before the spell wears off.
For any Aucklander who can see beyond the lint in his or her navel, the passing of the amenities funding bill on Wednesday evening was an event to savour - a moment when those of us who see ourselves as Aucklanders first scored a famous victory over the villagers like North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams who shiver in fear about what the rest of us are up to.
As for the National Party, if the headless chookery that leader John Key and his team have indulged in over this bill bears any resemblance to what a future Key government will be like, let's all be very nervous.
Having finally decided, ever so reluctantly, to support the bill, Auckland's National MPs forgot to arrange enough time, in the tight parliamentary timetable, to get their planned amendment into the chamber.
The act provides for population-based funding of 10 regional amenities - both cultural and rescue. National accepted that because of the dire financial state of several of the organisations, the introduction of equitable funding could not wait for whatever reforms emerge from the Royal Commission into Auckland Governance. The party's price for support was to demand a sunset clause ensuring the act would expire by 2012. This would allow time to revisit the issue in light of any governance reforms.
On Wednesday, the Government, which supported the bill, offered National a second chance to put its amendment. It lost the vote anyway. After some posturing, National decided to risk the wrath of Mayor Williams and his ilk and voted in favour of the unamended bill.
But in a last-ditch bid to straddle the fence, Mr Key also pumped out a press release at least two hours before he and his colleagues voted unanimously for the bill headlined "National will repeal Regional Funding Bill".
He said National's "very reluctant" support was "short term" and had been made "in order to avoid the collapse of some critical rescue services over coming months". Mr Key says his government would repeal the bill and introduce new legislation, as part of governance reform, which "will provide fair funding arrangements for regional rescue services". Ominously, he omitted the arts groups from this statement.
The reality is that whichever party is in government will have to introduce new legislation to cater for whatever governance reforms are adopted. Prime among them, hopefully, will be a requirement that regional amenities be supported on a regional basis. It was good to hear National list MP and former Wellington mayor Mark Blumsky wistfully wishing in his speech that his region could have something similar.
On Wednesday night, after watching the debate online, I viewed a recording of the Olympics closing event. Hopefully no local politician will have the powers of their Beijing counterparts, but even a part-time browser of the Games like myself cannot but notice what can be achieved by working together as a community.
For too long, the 31 per cent of Auckland's 1.4 million people who live in Auckland City have provided the lion's share - 81 per cent - of the public support going to the 10 regional amenities in the bill. North Shore City, on the other hand, provides just 1.46 per cent. This despite 20 per cent of Auckland Town Hall and Aotea Centre patrons being North Shore residents.
What the act does is make ratepayers right across the region pay the same per-head contribution to surf lifesaving and helicopter rescue and the Auckland Festival and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and six other regional amenities that Auckland City ratepayers now pay.
In the year beginning June 2009, this will lift the ratepayer funding of these 10 groups from about $4 million to $9 million. By year three, this will grow to $15 million. The year-one cost will vary from $4.88 for a Rodney resident to $7.73 for someone in Auckland City. It seems a tiny price to ensure the survival of the basic amenities of a civilised city.
