Barnett warns against blandness

John Barnett says Auckland's cultural differences have to be accommodated. Photo / Richard Robinson

Television and film producer John Barnett supports the concept of a super city but doesn't want the film industry to be its first casualty. He fears that might happen if diversity or suburban identities disappear under a bland, single-brand Auckland Council.

Barnett says he is concerned the "holistic" environment in Waitakere city for the film industry, where his company South Pacific Pictures is based, might be affected by local government reorganisation.

"Some of the things that make it easy to do business out here will disappear," he says. "One of the realities of pan-Auckland is the Waitakere is an eco-city and there is a certain environment that exists out here. South Auckland is highly Polynesian, North Shore has a different make-up and somehow we have to accommodate those [differences] and leave them where they are.

"You are going to have to realise there are regional and cultural differences in different physical parts of Auckland and accommodate these in some way.

"If you think about it, any great city in the world - London, New York, Sydney, Toronto - they all have their Little Italy, Little Vietnam and Chinatown. They have been critical to the make-up of a city and the perception from outside."

Barnett says the local boards proposed will not have enough power to accommodate cultural and suburban differences, adding that a single Auckland-wide council with the former boroughs in place might have worked.

Barnett says he would not support a referendum on Auckland's proposed governance because it would hold up reform and not assist people being heard. "My support for change, if it is that, is that [in the past] we have made some appalling infrastructural decisions, parish-pump decisions at the expense of a good city."

Barnett would like to see the new Auckland Council cut rates, improve transport and operate under a single strategic plan.

"We need to ensure, at least in transition, that regional strengths and differences aren't lost, and then to focus on infrastructure."