KEY POINTS:
Most New Zealanders know that little of real worth is done in the big-time world of national politics without Helen Clark's imprimatur. The same is proving true for Auckland.
The country's most powerful politician is now taking a direct interest in plans to reform the governance of our
biggest city.
It's a big issue and one that has caused a lot of angst, particularly among the great and good that dominate Auckland politics at the cities and regional levels.
But so far the Government has been unable to take a tough decision on the list of options brought together last year by Brian Roche, the PricewaterhouseCoopers' consultant, who has been working with Auckland local government officials to try to build consensus on the most appropriate option for Auckland.
The typically cautious Clark - and her Cabinet - has so far appeared to favour the regional development forum option which would comprise representatives from central, regional and local government.
But it's not going down so well among the movers and shakers who want a more ambitious approach.
Under the regional forum option the elected members would develop one plan for Auckland.
The forum would also have a supervisory function across a number of other regional forums and whole of Auckland strategies.
Key private sector players who have been part of the brain-storming on Auckland's future want more say in the future of their city. Crucially, the issue is whether what's now on the table is a step up or a step down.
The business sector, which has been lobbying for a Greater Auckland Council approach, also wants some private sector appointees brought on board to lift the ambition among elected members.
The issue now is whether the new body would simply add another bureaucratic layer to Auckland, with the inevitable impact on rates.
Another issue is just who will lead the show: will there be another crack at the Lord Mayor option, which so excited the likes of Waitakere's Bob Harvey and Manukau's Sir Barry Curtis when it was first floated last year? And will Aucklanders have a say in who that person is, or be presented by a fait accompli dictated by central government.?
Clark has taken the criticisms on board. A new officials group at central government level is taking a fresh look at the options.
It comprises members of Clark's Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Treasury and Ministry of Economic Development. Roche is on standby for now while the group takes further soundings from Auckland officials on the favoured option and any alternative.
Sacrifices will have to be made at local body level but what is not clear is whether Clark will have the courage to downsize the number of local bodies in Auckland, and the number of politicians.
Last year, Clark lent her name to the Metro Project, the quiet revolution that a big number of the city's movers and shakers have signed up to.
There is a risk that, like the Metro Project, critics will again chisel over the anti-democratic way in which central Government will ultimately call the shots.
But Clark's Government can call on a reservoir of goodwill that it has earned by investing in Auckland's infrastructure, which had been sadly neglected by previous governments.
The Government has earned the right to demand some changes.
But there are issues over how much leadership Clark will want to give outside the Cabinet room. On this score National Leader John Key should talk turkey with Clark.
If change is to be courageous there will need to be a bipartisan mandate forged to reduce the number of councils and councillors.
Auckland's relative decline on an Australasian basis is frightening, a factor that Key's predecessor Don Brash understood and that his successor needs to embrace implementation agencies to drive the action plan.
Putting a rocket under Auckland was and still is a major plank in the Clark Government's third term economic transformational agenda. A cross-functional government departmental team is now based in Auckland and has liaised with business leaders on the Metro Project and acting as Cabinet's ears and eyes on the business revolutionaries.
Cabinet ministers like Trevor Mallard, now in the economic development role, have had first-hand negative experiences of dealing with Auckland.
Mallard's proposal for a waterfront stadium was undermined by the Auckland Regional Council, which wants to be in the box seat if a new Auckland regional forum is set up.
Clark needs to put the Mallard experience to one side. But she can't afford not to crack the whip over her Government's failure to sort out the stadium option for the World Cup.
That is sending a dreadful message abroad about New Zealand's inability to take some tough decisions.
It's time, once again, for Clark to try to be bold.
