The early hallmark of our new government is that they have (mainly) good ideas and then just get on and do them. The old days of endless rounds of pointless 'consultation' appear to have been quite rightly consigned to the bin. Pragmatism if not in spades at least in hearts.
The latest good idea is taking a chainsaw to the way Auckland is run. The current seven or nine (too many anyway) councils are to be replaced by one and there will be a hatful of local boards with very limited powers. It is being dubbed Auckland Super City. This is nonsense, of course. The population of Auckland is a tad over a million which by global standards hardly makes it a Super Hamlet. London has a population of around ten million and Bonking Boris handles that very nicely, thank you very much.
One Lord Mayor (or whatever he is to be called) with the power to do things off his own bat is just the ticket. Need a new road? Have a look in the cocoa tin. There is enough folding varieties for a new road so I'll build it. Sod consulting anyone. Road goes through a stand of native trees? Tough; out with the Husqvarna. Road goes through Mount Albert? Well that was the idea in the first place. Road goes through some blokes business premises? Give him some dosh, tell him to move and then shut the fuck up. I love it.
Of course coteries of people who have spent their life sucking on the public tit under the old way of doing things are 'outraged'. There will not be enough consultation. Well that's the idea, dickhead. Things will get done and not just talked about. The jokers on the 'Boards', those with limited power, will soon found out what 'limited power' means. They can talk all they like and not get in the way of the real people actually doing things. There will no specific Maori seats. Well that's the idea, dickhead. By the by, there will be no specific Chinese, Somali or Croation seats either in this multi and not bicultural city. The Union for Council workers or somesuch says there is anxiety that jobs will be lost. Well that's the idea, dickhead. You should only have anxiety over things that are uncertain. That people who have useless and mainly duplicated jobs across the city are going to lose them is not uncertain at all. It is bloody definite. That is the idea, dickhead. There is no point trimming down a humongous and unnecessary bureaucracy and keeping all the jobs, is there.
I just hope they have the balls to do it properly.
No comments:
Post a Comment