John Key's 2006 SuperCity Private Member's Bill

Learned last week that John Key has more in common with Auckland governance upheaval than just being Prime Minister. Turns out that after the so-called mayoral coup in 2006 (where mayors Harvey, Curtis and Hubbard tried to tip over the ARC and went to Wellington for support), John Key MP put up his own Private Member's Bill about it.

It was called something like: "Auckland Governance Restructuring".

I haven't seen it yet. The Bill was not drawn. So it didn't get into Parliament. But it was ready to go into Parliament.

Of interest is that I am advised the Bill put forward two options for restructuring. One of these was that Auckland should be restructured into a Unitary Authority and 20-30 Community Boards. Sound familiar?

So John Key's idea is the one the Government are running with. Nothing to do with the Royal Commission. Not a lot to do with anyone else either. Has support from those wanting removal of public involvement and public participation (they call this: "red tape").

There are some similarities between this Bill and another idea that had strong PM support. That's the National Cycleway. From what I understand, John Key is an ideas man. Full of ideas. That's a good thing. Apparently the role that Bill English plays is knocking the ideas around a bit, testing them for survival. These two ideas have something in common: there is no policy basis for them, no thinking around implementation.

The Cycleway seems to have evolved into a series of great cycle trips. They may join up someday. I like the sound of that. But this one - abolish all Auckland's local government and start again, afresh, with a unitary authority and 20-30 community boards - well. It's an idea. But boy, where's the thinking behind it?

I'm trying to get hold of John Key's Auckland Bill. Time we knew more about the various agendas behind closed doors at Cabinet. Surely some Ministers in there are seriously uncomfortable with what's happening....