Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Footpaths, not manifest destiny

Steve Todd

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 16:59:25 +1300

the Auckland DHB takes in the North Shore and Henderson

"that's the Waitemata DHB"

Thanks, Sacha. You’re quite right.

The shading on the map at the MoH website is a bit confusing. I thought it was a bit odd, especially as I have previously compared the Massey-Henderson Local Board election…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 13:50:16 +1300

The “Franklin/Rodney distortion..."
I like the sound of that – could be a damn fine fantasy story in there somewhere...
...or a band name going begging!

Sacha

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 12:12:57 +1300

the Auckland DHB takes in the North Shore and Henderson

that's the Waitemata DHB.

Steve Todd

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 12:08:16 +1300

Yes, that's the one. Thanks linger. Much appreciated. That response to Steve was drafted in Word yesterday. I tried to do a link (on another PC), but I couldn't get it to work. I'm just a basic PC user.

Steve Todd

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 11:57:52 +1300

That's FPP thinking, Rich. Under (multiple-)FPP, candidates have to chase after any and every vote going, to ensure they get to be one of the five, or six, or seven, or whatever, successful candidates in the ward. Therefore, I suppose large (district magnitude) wards would favour well-funded candidates, especially in…

linger

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 11:29:49 +1300

A direct link might be more helpful.
Presumably you’re referring to this post here.

Steve Todd

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 11:00:27 +1300

No, I’m in Wellington, Steve. If you nevertheless think I can help out with your campaign, just let me know.

You and I knew each other when you lived in Wellington in the mid-, late-90s. We were in the ERC with Phil Saxby.

For your information, in case you missed…

Rich of Observationz

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:58:43 +1300

I thought the main objection to larger wards is that only well funded candidates are able to campaign effectively, since to be elected they have to reach a large number of people through media and advertising (rather than being known directly to electors).

Steve Todd

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 10:37:24 +1300

Hello, Keir--

My computer died on Tuesday and is now on its way to Auckland to be fixed. I'm posting this from a cybercafe.

The “communities of interest” section of the Local Electoral Act (section 19T “Requirement for effective representation …”) is an FPP holdover from section 101L of the…

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 09:42:36 +1300

My first ever animated gif !
– a bit dodgy I know but now I get the idea – could be hours of fun…
…this was just to recreate the visual effect of the mop-handle-powered animated placard I waved about with approx 20 others at yesterday’s Save City Care picket(2nd…

andin

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 18:35:25 +1300

Stop the madness…
The madness has dressed itself up as bottomline sanity, wears formal attire and...
changed in order to make the management look better
Madness
Theres no stopping it now. Just have to wait it out, I'll be dead by then.

Bart Janssen

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 10:51:53 +1300

Crime victimisation surveys are a well-established thing

They are also a highly charged political metric. Sadly too often the measure gets changed in order to make the management look better instead of trying to figure out if the actual crime rate is changing in any significant way.

Russell Brown

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 09:45:24 +1300

That has the potential to be a really crap metric.

Crime victimisation surveys are a well-established thing – it can be useful to know the total number of people affected by crime in a territory – but I'm not sure it makes sense for the police to be doing it…

Jeremy Andrew

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 09:32:32 +1300

That's not the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, but its up there! So if my house with five people in it gets burgled, is that five victims? But if they don't take anything belonging to one of the kids, is that now four victims? What if they take my…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 08:50:54 +1300

Not Auckland related again (I know, who knew such a concept existed…)
– but as there are statisticians in the house, can anyone explain to me how this might work:
Between 2012 and 2013 the number of burglaries recorded in Canterbury increased from 5661 to 5707.
That number dropped to…

Ian Dalziel

Wed, 13 Jan 2016 06:44:43 +1300

Teach your council well...
– for Chchch readers –
Save City Care
Join Keep Our Assets Picket
Today This Wednesday (13/1) 4.30-5.30 p.m
at CC Depot, 245 Milton St, Sydenham,
(Near Colombo street end)

Stop the madness...

Ben Austin

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 22:26:17 +1300

It isn't clear that the UK can cope with the current set up, in any event, devolution has come to Scotland, Wales, London and returned to Northern Ireland a decade ago, leaving only England running under the old model. In England this last year or so a lot of city…

John Farrell

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 18:51:20 +1300

Y'know – the people of Dunedin feel so sorry for Aucklanders, that we're going to invite a select few of you to join us here:

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/369062/drive-lure-aucklanders-move-here

Russell Brown

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:31:35 +1300

Thank you for commenting here, George.

Indeed. We appreciate the engagement.

George Wood

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:27:11 +1300

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caC_VnJPfoo&feature=youtu.be&t=48

Councillor Ross Clow sets out a very good summary of how Auckland Council got so out of touch with the community over the long term plan 2015/2025

TracyMac

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:19:53 +1300

If we want to stay away from national partisanship in local body elections, I think an MMP-syle system would be a backward step. Perhaps less backward than the current situation, but STV works fine in terms of proportionality.

Speaking of the Australian mess, I can think of no reason why…

TracyMac

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 15:09:46 +1300

Doug Myers ... declared that libraries were not a public good because it was no use to him if a poor person could read books

Yes, I recall that. And now I earn 6 figures, as a previously poor person who relied on public libraries at the time, I still…

Chris Werry

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:58:03 +1300

Depends on the board – some are much better than others.

Steve Withers

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:33:26 +1300

Correct. First Past the Post is the problem. Just as it recently gave 100% of the seats on the AECT to C&R, it allowed many Council members to be elected with barely a 1/3rd of the votes cast….in both 2010 and 2013.

I looked at this at the time. http://goo.gl/m4pWhX and…

Sacha

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:30:45 +1300

A relief, eh. Probably got tired of getting nowhere.

Steve Withers

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:26:40 +1300

Are you in Auckland, Steve?

Steve Withers

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:24:17 +1300

Brewer isn't running again, last I heard.

Steve Withers

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 14:23:30 +1300

I'd be interested in campaigning for a change to STV for Auckland Council.

The last two elections saw more than 50% of the votes cast elect no one at all.

2010 result analysis: http://goo.gl/m4pWhX

2013 result analysis: http://goo.gl/RiO8OJ

The last election saw two wards not vote as not one person…

Sacha

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 12:57:12 +1300

Cameron Brewer is against intensity in the east.

Sacha

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 07:50:50 +1300

Thank you for commenting here, George.

Morepork

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 23:23:25 +1300

left, or the left in general. At least not at local board level. You can’t argue over parks maintenance, or library upgrades, on philosophical bases. That stuff belongs in academic writings, not at the coalface. There are some issues where an ideological view can proceed over pragmatism, but not many.…

Ben Austin

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 22:35:29 +1300

Agreed that UKIP should have got a seat. I'm not really quite sure what the point of the London Assembly is sometimes, it seems equal parts Parish Council and Mayoral Review thingy. Which perhaps does it a disservice. Ordinary voters don't seem to worry about it too much, they/we tend…

Steve Todd

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:51:26 +1300

I have some comments to make in response to your post, Keir, but it will have to be tomorrow evening now. Other things to be getting on with this evening.

Steve Todd

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:48:50 +1300

I forgot to mention that while UKIP should have got one seat (in my view), there was an arbitrary 5% threshold that the party did not overcome. Very unfair, considering the natural threshold was 4%.

Steve Todd

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:43:58 +1300

Not quite, Rich. Under my scheme, a group getting 40% of the vote in a 7-seat ward would be guaranteed 3 seats (3 x 12.5% = 37.5%).

In New Zealand local elections, we have either either FPP or STV. As I've said to you before, if you want something else,…

George Wood

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:29:28 +1300

Perhaps Ben Ross should look at the close vote in the Auckland Council's 2015/2025 long term plan finalisation. The vote only passed by the slimmest of majorities when two councillors got cold feet. I feel that they voted for the motion to pass the plan against their better judgement.

Leadership…

Keir Leslie

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 20:04:47 +1300

I would be curious to see whether a ward of 500,000 would pass the community of interest test under the Local Electoral Act.

My gut feeling is that it would struggle to, although the LGC did approve a ward of ~100,000 in Dunedin. Will be interesting to see where the…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:36:35 +1300

Wouldn’t that just ensure that each ticket would be guaranteed a councillor per ward whether they got 12% or 40% of the votes? Why not a genuinely proportional system?

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:17:13 +1300

metamorphic spirit rocks!!
Not surprising in a comment on transition mettle.
I wasn’t always easily lead…
;- )

I really like ‘transition mettle’
that could be a Chchch meme…

Steve Todd

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:14:29 +1300

Yes, Phil, you’ve nailed it in one. The adoption of STV in multimember wards is clearly the way to go in Auckland. I would be very disappointed if Simon Wilson has discussed the problem of effective local representation in Auckland City without mentioning STV as (at least part of) the…

Stephen Judd

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:51:56 +1300

Damn, does that make it a compound error?

Not surprising in a comment on transition mettle.

Sacha

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 18:04:55 +1300

Suffer and steel

zing

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:36:54 +1300

Ferrous the key...
Chch governance is one ugly motherlode of Fe and loathing.
or in PR speak : Chchch is the result of 'Pitchblende', which decays day by day, forever....

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:32:28 +1300

Well you are from Te Waipounamu after all.
Nephrite first time!

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:28:10 +1300

Suffer and steel...
Not all Fe complexes are magnetic, hence your magnet failed
Damn, does that make it a compound error?

Sacha

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:27:32 +1300

a shack in a ghetto

looxury

linger

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:09:05 +1300

Chch governance is one ugly motherlode of Fe and loathing.
It just makes it easier to get lost when someone’s taken the compass.

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:03:48 +1300

jaded

Well you are from Te Waipounamu after all.

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 16:02:21 +1300

You guys have forgotten your chemistry papers – you did actually go to the lectures didn't you?

Not all Fe complexes are magnetic, hence your magnet failed.

Moz did indeed highlight the fact that while Auckland ain't perfect it could be managed a LOT worse. that said I'd still like…

Moz

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:54:58 +1300

adding a layer of muddle management (as Kiwis'd call it)?

Australia has a lot of that. We get five levels of elected representatives (except in Queensland where they only have four), and often competing bureaucrazies at state and federal level (public schools are mostly funded by the states, "private" ones…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:36:24 +1300

I was hoping for irony.
Sorry, I've started the year a tad jaded and cloth-eared I fear...
I now see and take your point(s)...

as you were,
talk amongst yourselves
:- )

linger

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:35:23 +1300

push the responsibility down but keep the fundsSo interposing a federal level between national and local govt is just adding a layer of muddle management (as Kiwis'd call it)?

Moz

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:19:28 +1300

I was hoping for irony.

Sydney is a bad place to look for ideas, we have a right-wing state government that is privatising some of the rail (that is in Labour electorates), merging councils and using the interim "appointed managers" to privatise council assets and services, and so on. Many…

Kumara Republic

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 15:06:10 +1300

The Centre Right is fractured in Auckland between the pragmatics and the ideologues.

I'd say the issue of housing affordability is too big to ignore, and that it's single-handedly sorted the pragmatists who recognise the value of smart intensification, from the ideologues who want to prevent the 'riff-raff' from weakening…

Russell Brown

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:48:40 +1300

I’m running a magnet over this, but I’m missing the irony…

I'm sure it's ironic. It .... well, it must be.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:45:27 +1300

where's a spanner when ya need it...
the comprehension gulf there is a sarchasm
Damn, I gave up 'filter feeding' as a new year's resolution
– oh well back to reading between the lines it is then...
:- )

linger

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:36:23 +1300

I’m missing the ironyI’d say that filing’s full of it; or more accurately,
the comprehension gulf there is a sarchasm.

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:26:06 +1300

You only have to look at Christchurch to see how much better National are at these things. The rebuild has been appropriately paced, unhindered by bureaucracy and produced a result that Aucklanders could only dream of
You don't live in Chchch do you Moz?
I'm running a magnet over this,…

Moz

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:19:38 +1300

if you like spending several hours a day commuting to work. And spending 15 times average annual wages to buy a shack in a ghetto.

You only have to look at Christchurch to see how much better National are at these things. The rebuild has been appropriately paced, unhindered by…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 12:40:55 +1300

a track record of making Auckland a pretty decent place

Well, if you like spending several hours a day commuting to work. And spending 15 times average annual wages to buy a shack in a ghetto.

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 12:00:17 +1300

A long time ago when Hard News was a weekly radio rant, the second most foul-mouthed edition ever*

Is that because like many of us, the public (free) library was where you got to read. The ability to walk to the library after school each day and get another pile…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:54:38 +1300

rather than sitting back and throwing rocks.

Contrast that with question time

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:51:06 +1300

local government decisions often don’t fall neatly into a left/right dichotomy

THIS so much this.

Except that it is also true of national government. We have been conned into the belief that a left or right ideology leads to a better government whereas the fact is getting the right things…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:43:19 +1300

When National looks at those numbers, it asks itself, “If we’re so popular, why the hell can’t we win the council?”

Maybe just maybe the answer is less that Auckland voters actually like National but rather that in the council elections there is a functional, reasonable alternative. In stark contrast…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 21:20:28 +1300

And, dare I say it, but I agree with Nick Kearney. Much of the Council and Local Board business requires practical responses and competence rather than ideology is rewarded. People want to know what elected representatives think. But they want to be sure that if a problem is presented for…

Greg Presland

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 20:17:03 +1300

I agree with Patrick Reynolds that National's expectation of success because of the last election result is misplaced. First of all it has to deal with the C&R/Future Auckland diffulties. Then it has to deal with the intense parochialism in the south and especially in the west. And it ignores the…

Hilary Stace

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 19:49:01 +1300

Re public libraries. Constant public vigilance is required to ensure the council's role in supporting them as a public good in their own right and as safe civic spaces free to everyone and with no pressure to spend money. Retaining this principle of access to books and knowledge is a…

Patrick Reynolds

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:20:40 +1300

Simon's article is full of interesting angles but there is a big problem with his central thesis. He argues because National got the most votes in most AKL electorates at the last election that proves that AKL is essentially a tory town, and then asks how come haven't then controlled…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 18:15:49 +1300

Surely you can argue about library upgrades on a philosophical basis though? Maggie Thatcher didn’t like the concept of “free” libraries. Libraries began as private/subscription services.

A long time ago when Hard News was a weekly radio rant, the second most foul-mouthed edition ever* was in response to an appalling…

George Darroch

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 16:03:43 +1300

Three Wards for Russell and Simon to watch

Albany
Waitemata
Manurewa-Papakura

The competition for wards is far more interesting. I know that the left is very interested in getting Krum out and will want to stand someone capable of knocking her out. I don't think that Quax is standing for…

Joe Wylie

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 15:08:53 +1300

Surely you can argue about library upgrades on a philosophical basis though? Maggie Thatcher didn't like the concept of "free" libraries. Libraries began as private/subscription services.

Eighteen of NZ's free public libraries were established with grants from a Scottish-American philanthropist.

Nick Kearney

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 14:02:48 +1300

Politics is also the art of the possible.

Phil Lyth

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 13:42:02 +1300

To state the obvious: Auckland uses the First Past The Post voting system, and will do so for the October 2016 election. (It could be changed for 2019 if there is the political will.)

That *should* drive the actions and strategy of people and groups. (As RB observes, that's not…

Rotmistrov

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 13:17:58 +1300

Surely you can argue about library upgrades on a philosophical basis though? Maggie Thatcher didn't like the concept of "free" libraries. Libraries began as private/subscription services.

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:55:09 +1300

There’s nothing antithetical about a centre right elected member working with the centre left, or the left in general. At least not at local board level. You can’t argue over parks maintenance, or library upgrades, on philosophical bases. That stuff belongs in academic writings, not at the coalface. There are…

Ian Dalziel

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:50:05 +1300

Isn't the whole point of Auckland local government to stand for 'Auckland and its future', not a 'party and its interests in having control'...

The greater good needs a good grater to slough of all the dead areas.

Nick Kearney

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:33:28 +1300

An interesting piece, Russell.

You're right: The centre right in Auckland is fractured. My personal view is that Auckland actually does need party politics. By this I mean Labour stands in its own name, and National should do the same. The reason it doesn't is because National cannot control it,…

Ben Ross

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:32:54 +1300

I dont think it will drift to the old ACC type of style of division – not at the moment and not while Hulse and the other 10 (or similar in replacement) are there.

One thing I have always said is that to win the Mayoral Chains you need the…

Joshua Arbury

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:26:08 +1300

I obviously need to be careful what I say about this given I work for the Council, but thanks for the analysis Russell – very interesting. I always enjoy reading Simon Wilson’s articles on Auckland and the Council, it’s obvious that he attends enough Council meetings and talks to enough…

Ben Ross

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 12:04:34 +1300

You're welcome :-)

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:54:16 +1300

Now ask yourself this:
Why can Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse (Len could but he is stepping down) rally those of the Left and the Right but mayoral candidates, C&R and Auckland Future are struggling?

Thanks for that, Ben. That's fascinating.

Ben Ross

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:51:37 +1300

Where to start with this Russell.

The Centre Right is fractured in Auckland between the pragmatics and the ideologues.

Your pragmatics (whether you agree with them or not) are the following
Webster
Cooper
Penrose
Cashmore
Watson
Anae

Your ideologues include:
Quax
Stewart
Wood
Krum
Brewer
Fletcher when it comes to…

Michael Stevens

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:48:57 +1300

A great analysus Russell. The Nats really don't get the "local" bit of lca government.

And Thesea Gattung's name will always be tainted with her advocacy of corporate duplicity – remember her comments on how it was good to keep mobile contracts so complicated that consumers couldn't understand them?

Rotmistrov

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:47:11 +1300

Gattung is both entirely wrong and entirely right.
The Mayor doesn't have a lot of power, and neither does Council. But they could. The politicians do not set the right goals nor do they take a sufficiently active role in guiding the actions of the bureaucracy. There is more concern…

Russell Brown

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:33:25 +1300

Mo’ Wilson: Simon on the challenges of getting Auckland’s future right.

Public Address

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 11:33:25 +1300

Discussion from blog post.