KEY POINTS:
Auckland local body politicians are so preoccupied running about shouting "me, me, me" as election day looms that they seem to have missed the true significance of the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill being introduced into Parliament this afternoon.
But as they put their feet up tonight and
wonder why no one treats them with the gravitas they consider is their due, they might want to draw a link between our disregard for them and the fact that 11 core regional arts and community organisations were forced, as a last resort, to go to Parliament to get the local funding any civilised community would normally provide.
They might want to consider who is in touch with Auckland. The large majority of local politicians who oppose the bill - or the vast majority of parliamentarians from across the House who are expected to back it going to a select committee, and the 64 per cent to 96 per cent (depending on organisation) of Aucklanders who endorse the equitable, region-wide funding of these bodies.
You can't help thinking that when so many politicians can be so out of touch with community desires, it's little wonder local voting turnouts are so low.
On Monday, the obvious vehicle for regional funding, the Auckland Regional Council, had the chance to take a leadership role but it, too, followed the territorial councils - Auckland City, the shining exception - and unrolled a list of excuses for doing nothing. The Regional Strategy and Planning Committee voted to oppose the bill "in its present form", and leave it to the incoming councillors after the election to explain to the select committee why the present council was against.
The committee also decided that any policy on funding regional organisations should wait until after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Auckland Governance reported at the end of next year.
All heart, the ARC committee decided "to liaise with other councils to consider interim arrangements for funding of regional organisations and possible longer-term options for such funding for recommendation to the royal commission".
Yet councillors are well aware that liaising with other councils is just another way of doing nothing, because they were well aware North Shore and the other philistine councils are vehemently opposed to paying more. From the report before them by strategic policy adviser Alan Johnson, the consequences of delay were outlined.
"The difficult financial position of many of the nominated groups has been one of the motivations behind the bill. The extent to which some of these organisations can sustain their financial positions over the next three years is not known. While it seems likely that most of the 10 nominated organisations will survive the next three years with their current funding sources, there is a risk that the level and quality of services they offer to the Auckland public may decline."
Mr Johnson, while calling for a broader debate on the funding issue, preferably through the royal commission, acknowledges that the delays caused by postponing action until after the commission reported, places the organisations "at some financial and operational risk".
He proposes that to protect "the viability" of some of these, "it may be necessary to negotiate some interim arrangements with central and local government agencies within the Auckland region". He says these could become "the forerunner of more permanent arrangements which could flow out of the royal commission's work".
I must say that is spoken like a true bureaucrat. The organisations concerned have been trying, without success, to negotiate decent funding packages with assorted local and central government agencies since the dawn of time.
The Minister for Auckland Issues, Judith Tizard, who will introduce the private bill today, opposes leaving it for the royal commission. "Auckland should get on and have a discussion. We don't need someone appointed by ministers in Wellington to tell us what we need to do."
Ms Tizard also agrees with her National counterpart Dr Wayne Mapp that, ideally, the funding should come via a regional rate, rather than a rate levied by each local council, as proposed in the bill.
ARC politicians had the chance to show leadership this week. Now, all going well, they risk having it thrust upon them.