Groups seek to have a voice

The group formed after worries about a lack of systems for community input in Rodney Hide's Super City legislation. Photo / Richard Robinson

Auckland community groups have come together to push for more participatory democracy in the Super City.

About 150 people from local groups stretching from Rodney to Franklin met in Greenlane yesterday to make sure local community voices are heard in the new structure.

Organisers Tony Mayow of Community Waitakere and Yvonne Powley of North Shore Community and Social Services said they were brought together by shared worries about a lack of systems for community input in Local Government Minister Rodney Hide's Super City legislation.

"We have huge concerns about the way it's being set up and the dangers it could hold for communities," Mr Mayow said. "We also see that it has unique opportunities.

"What Rodney has made us do is not think just about our local issues. He has forced us to think in structural terms, in governance terms and in terms of democracy."

The group, calling itself the Auckland Community Development Alliance, aims to build structures for local communities to feed into Super City debates, both on purely social issues such as the gap between rich and poor and on other issues that affect communities such as transport and spatial planning.

Ms Powley said these issues could not be left to politicians.

"There shouldn't be an assumption that local boards represent communities."

She said the Auckland Social Policy Forum, established by one of Mr Hide's bills, needed to include a wider range of Cabinet ministers.