KEY POINTS:
From the concert chamber at the Pukekohe Town Hall to the Piritahi community marae on the shores of Waiheke Island, the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance has trod a path across Auckland looking to the future.
It has been a marathon journey for the three members of the commission, retired High Court judge Peter Salmon, QC, former public servant Dame Margaret Bazley and David Shand, who headed last year's inquiry into rates.
During that time, the commission has listened intently to more than 550 submitters and been impressed at the quality of the thinking, lessons from the past and suggestions for the future.
"We intend to conduct informal hearings," Mr Salmon said at the outset.
The tone, mixed with the odd laugh, has endured at venues in each of the region's seven councils and certainly helped cope with the inevitable gas bags and cranks who, thankfully, have been thin on the ground.
Now the commission retires behind closed doors to consider the huge task of coming up with answers for the foreseeable future.
It's a no-brainer the commission will recommend a strengthened form of regional government to speak for Auckland with one voice. The biggest difficulty is the shape and form of keeping "local" in local government.
Mr Salmon has admitted as much, while stressing form will follow function.
This will require big judgment calls based on all the evidence and combined wisdom of the commission.
Guidance will come from that first sunny autumn day in Pukekohe and final sunny winter's day on Waiheke, and everything in between - the super city/executive mayor debates, the remoteness of farmers Dianne and Cedric McLeod at the tip of the South Kaipara Head, keeping the social dimension of Manukau City and Waitakere's eco brand, and so on.
