KEY POINTS:
Several major public players are dithering over whether to take part in the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance.
Ports of Auckland, water wholesaler Watercare Services and the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (Arta) are still deciding whether to make a submission by the impending deadline of April 22.
Manukau Water is not sure whether it will add to a verbal submission and Auckland City's water company, Metrowater, is not making a submission. The Edge, whose operations include the Aotea Centre and Civic Theatre, is unlikely to make a submission.
Commission chairman, retired High Court judge Peter Salmon, QC, said through a spokeswoman that the commission was very interested in the views of council-controlled organisations and hoped they would make submissions. The commission has the power to subpoena witnesses, but Mr Salmon said it was premature to talk about that.
Mark Ford, who chairs the Auckland Regional Transport Authority and is chief executive of Watercare, said both boards had discussed responding but had not decided.
He said Arta probably would make a submission, but he would be surprised if it differed from its governing body, the Auckland Regional Council, and other councils.
Mr Ford said the councils which owned Watercare were not constraining the company, but would want to know what it had to say.
Despite a lot of talk over the years about the future shape of the water industry in Auckland, he thought Watercare directors had not formulated a preferred model.
The main council-controlled water players, Watercare, Metrowater and Manukau Water, have been loath to publicly express anything other than the patter of their political masters.
Manukau Water chairman James Hill said the company had expressed views and left some information at a meeting with the commission but had not decided whether to make a formal submission. Metrowater chairman Ross Keenan said it had had input on water into Auckland City's submission.
Auckland City Deputy Mayor David Hay said it would be inappropriate for a wholly owned subsidiary to make a submission diametrically opposed to the council's.
Mr Hay said the council had asked for feedback from stakeholders, such as arts and sports groups, on its submission and encouraged them to make their own submissions.
A spokeswoman for Waitakere Enterprise said the economic development arm of Waitakere City Council would be making a submission.
