Local pressure groups are threatening a rates revolt in reaction to plans for an Auckland supercity, and one woman says she is prepared to take it all the way to the polls.
Penny Bright has spent the last 11 years giving the council grief over rates and water. Now she has set her sights on the supercity.
“I think it's a super rip off. For the public majority it’s going to downsize democracy and supersize rates,” she says.
Bright is already planning direct action by way of rates revolt, and she is also prepared to put her own hat in the ring: “I'm also going to stand for Mayor of this supercity to help do everything I can to stop it.”
Discontent over the governments plan is not confined to community groups.
It spreads all the way to wellington where Maori Party politicians have angrily attacked the government’s decision to scrap the three Maori seats recommended by the Royal Commission.
Maori will have to stand like anyone else – including the Chinese, the Koreans, and the Indians.
Maori Party co-leader Hone Harawira says, “We do not accept the view that Maori are just another minority. We are the tangata whenua, we are the first nation’s people."
John Key says while he is not prepared to legislate for it, he does expect Maori to be represented.
”If they decide not to elect a representative, I would be surprised," he says.
Rodney hide agrees: “The first thing Maori can do is organise and stand for council and Aucklanders will elect good people.”
That was greeted with contempt by Tariana Turia: “We are not an ethnic minority. We are not to be lumped in with those who came after us.”
The Maori Party says their representation needs to be guaranteed.
It has barely been 24 hours since the government announced its plan for a supercity, but protestations have come thick and fast and from disparate parts of the community.
They are organising petitions, and across the city iwi leaders are meeting next week to discuss how they plan to protest.
What remains to be seen is whether there is anything these groups can do to stand in the way of the supercity.
3 News