Auckland Commission submission
Typically last minute, I'm afraid. I'm far more interested in what others have to say:
Overview:
The Auckland region could benefit from a system of unitary metropolitan bodies and a de-centralised local government to maintain a balance of accountability.
Any change from the status quo should be ultimately put to a referendum in the areas affected by any change.
Iwi having mana whenua within the region must be able to assert a territorial jurisdiction as a discrete unit of local government having equivalent status as other autonomous sub-divisions (inter alia Community Boards) upon and over their own tribal lands at the very least. Maori representation on an ethnic basis alone (ie. the "Maori roll") can not adequately represent tangata whenua as they are in a minority position in the region.
To enable effective co-ordination of public transport and the expansion and upgrading of the urban rail system an Auckland Transit Commission should be established under it's own legislation and its own independent mandate to allow it to focus on its task without interference. Members of the commission should be accountable to the region by election.
Community Boards generally should be smaller than they are at present to enable better access to elected representatives and more informed decision-making on local issues. Boards should be given more responsibilities than they have at present.
If all present councils (including the ARC) should merge to form a unitary council then the decentralisation and devolvement of responsibilities to Boards must occur.
Any unitary council should have no more than 33 members in order to stop the proliferation of commitees.
Thank you for considering this submission.
posted by Tim Selwyn @ 4:36 pm
2 comments
2 Comments:
Saddams murder was a war crime, but Zarqawis execution was his own fault as he was a butcher, literally.Live by the sword,die by the sword.But someone should have told Bush, Blair and Howard that as well.George Dubyas "New-World-Order" started with the new "mission accomplished" fighter-pilot-draft-dodger May 2003 "victory" only 4 years ago.The new Gulf War was equally a one-sided slaughter his father started but would not or could not finish off.The term "War" hardly applies now as it is such an ongoing massacre of the innocents and has totally devastated and wrecked what is left of normal everyday Iraq Society.Saddam may have committed gross human rights violations as a Sovereign head of state in the past 4 decades and he did crush the Kurds uprising after the first Gulf War with the Presidents father the first Bush in the Oval office.With Gas he was also free to commit more aggressive war-like atrocities against Iran with the blessing of the weapons manufacturers in the West who supplied the arms.However the heavy handed way "the peace" was controlled with the lies about weapons inspections and the strictly enforced U.N sanctions has meant that many Iraqis suffer the dire consequences of malnutrition and hardship caused through poverty in punishment for the ongoing War.Saddam's iron rule of Oligarchy as a Middle Eastern tyrant like in Egypt and Saudi Arabia may have held Iraq together for a while but Bush was as responsible as Saddam for the awesome tragedy we witness on the evening news bulletin's at 6pm every night.Even earlier in the evening we are often witnesses to the bloodshed and carnage and wanton destruction through suicide bombing and roadside bombs as they are now called by troops in pointlessly armoured cars and 4 wheel drives blown up beyond recognition.For the Iraqi people the worst of all possible world's has been realised from the illegal invasion and ongoing occupation by foreign powers as recorded recently of this War by former Iraqi exiles like the outspoken critic Ahmad Chalabi.He is very critical of a form of green-zone inspired puppet-regime-politics after the illegal hanging of Saddam by Bush,Blair and Howard.They should be tried for murder in the Hague by the U.N!
Washington,London and Canberra should have all been compelled to pursue diplomacy first and force only as a last resort, as the Twentieth Century was arguably the American or Western Allies Century, becoming the worlds only dominant economic powers.A lesson our former ANZUS partners like Australia and America should have learnt by now however from this conflict is that by getting too close to super-power status on your own a once vibrant democratic society similar to our own should not have the right to lock up political refugees from a War they started in razor wire death camps in the desert.
Otago University Professor Robert Patman claims that Phil Goff told him we have spent somewhere in the region of over $100 million dollars supporting the U.S, Britain and Australia, our once traditional wartime Allies remembered every year on Anzac day through an often jingoistic nationalistic fervour designed to make recent arrivals like political refugee's from War unsure of their place in this their new country.This money has been spent on so-called "reconstruction" efforts in the region where the Taleban blew up the relics of a once ancient regime.What a waste of money.The U.N. Security Council washed its hands of Iraq just like with the economic sanctions and left it to the U.S. and U.K. to go it alone in violation of the U.N. Charter.To put it in a broader context the U.N. became more obedient to Washington and London after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war.The U.S indifference of U.N. instructions for peace and the U.S and Britain vetoes of Security Council resolutions against War.For over half a century now America has been pursuing a "grand imperial strategy" with the aim of staking out the entire globe and this dream of dominance has almost taken us to the edge of extinction.George W Bush is intensifying this process as the final frontier of imperial control has led to a choice between the prerogatives of power and a liveable Earth or planet as American rulers are now jeopardising the future of the species with a denial of Climate change.It seems unlikely that we will have another Century dominated by the U.S and her friends, as it has further mired itself and her allies Britain and the Aussies in the resource driven conflict for Oil to fuel their greedy Economy's.They reach out to other countries only through the gun turrets of tank's and helicopter's.There is now a discernible sense of global energy shifting away from "the West" alongside New Zealand's departure for greener pastures elsewhere, as New Zealand prides itself on human rights, social welfare and political neutrality in the War and moreover we all pride ourselves on being anti-nuclear and peaceful.Australian Muslim critics of our racist government claims nothing could be further from the truth however.New Zealanders on talkback radio for example with Lindsay Perigo on Radio Live, and Bruce Russell after midnight on Newstalk ZB in particular are, addicted to stories of Anti-Muslim stereotypes and ignorance; calling them "Islamic-Fascists" for example as true deadbeat rednecks would only say.This is designed to promote fear of them and promote more racism against Chinese and Indians fleeing from a military coup and racial dictatorship next door in Fiji with our support.
The struggle was for the identity of 'the Orient'.A kind of academic industry.Cast all over this was the superiority of the West to the East.Saddam Hussein was 'the new Hitler'.9/11; 'they brought the attacks on themselves'.I found the U.S the most parochial country on Earth.It's media is complicit in keeping its people ignorant of other cultures,politics and histories.An un-Australian 'flood' of asylum seekers and backdoor entry into Australia by tricky Middle-Easterners.Hijabs at School.Strict parents and family and/or free sex, grog and rock'n'roll;hotted up cars,trophy girls and cruisin the city working out their own 'cross-cultural indentities' as Muslims or Christians.Impossible to control.The worst medium was talkback radio.Sydneys talkback is the equivalent of Londons tabloids.
Furthermore, NZ's foreign minister Winston Peters ,the equivalent of Australian Pauline Hanson has been attacking Asians and found a soft spot in the P.Ms heart all his recent political life.Like his Australian cousins "across the ditch" as we now like to say putting distance between us and our nearest neighbours, Peters has become the governments "unofficial" mouthpiece as a minister outside of cabinet collective responsibility for promoting a new form of ANZUS and other assorted pro American propaganda and violence in support of the War.Together with Australia we have sent troops to the Solomons and Tonga and East Timor (Timor Leste) only recently to sure up support for the powers that be in the pacific region now known as the Asia Pacific (APEC) rim.We have become like Britain is now as a subordinate in the south pacific taking orders like "yo Blair" did so servile to the United States and Bush like another sort of deputy sheriff in the Solomons and many hundreds of their police are still causing trouble whereever they go throughout this troubled region as well.This has caused concern and disruption for the locally elected politicians in the region defending their own authority and Sovereignty.The Australians and New Zealanders overseas now say they have been invited by the King of Tonga to suppress dissent and calls for change but the peoples movement has been suppressed with our Prime Ministers assistance in the South Pacific.We are performing the role of a "proxy gendarme" according to our Australian Muslim friend's and neighbours like the Grand Mufti of the South Pacific.Our ongoing support for the other War by the West in Afghanistan and several rotations of troops in their hundreds now shows that our Nationalism based New Zealand First,United Future, the Progressives and Labour led Coalition Government support the murderous and ongoing slaughter of so-called Insurgent forces in the Middle East.We are not neutral in the War's at all like we like to think of ourselves as being.Bill Ralston also claims when he visited Washington himself just recently he was told New Zealands efforts overseas, especially the use of the S.A.S had been much appreciated by the Bush Administration and the Republican party in general who had decided to end the long standing dispute over our so-called newly independent foreign policy.
...yeah, just slightly off-topic, mate.
Post a Comment
<< Home