Council’s stance questioned

On nearly every front the Porirua City Council has done a good job over the past three years.

Why then don’t Porirua city councillors trust electors to make the decision on regional amalgamation?

Why is Porirua the only local council supporting this power grab started by the Wellington Regional Council?

None of the other seven local councils support the Wellington Regional Council’s plan on amalgamation.

Only one Porirua City councillor disagrees with the decision to make the coming election the last one for an independent Porirua.

Even the regional council, which is the only winner in this amalgamation, is not unanimous in its desire to decimate the local councils. Five regional councillors voted against the idea.

So why do all our ward councillors support this shrinking of democracy? The ‘‘super’’ Wellington Regional Council agenda is not inevitable.

Why are we rushing to follow Rodney Hyde’s Auckland template? Auckland is still an experiment in progress.

Several Porirua councillors said during the recent ‘‘debate’’ that they are now happy to put local democracy’s future into the hands of the unelected Local Government Commission in the hope they will force amalgamation.

The coming October elections will be the first (and maybe the last) chance to test the assertion that the present council has a mandate.

As a participant and close follower of local government for more than 30 years I have never heard any candidate make an election pledge that they were standing to force regional amalgamation. Let’s see if they have the honesty to put this on this year’s publicity for reelection.

My guess is we will see some flip-flopping before October. I, for one, would applaud such a decision. There is still time to ensure Porirua does not lose its