KEY POINTS:
It seems the whole country has tuned out of the local body elections, which close on Saturday. If you don't take that voting paper off your fridge today, tick the ballot and mail it back by Friday, your vote won't count.
Ballot returns are at a record low. The moderates and the poor, if they vote at all, tend to get around to it at the end. Conservatives mostly vote early because they know the importance of it. If, as it seems, most voters don't participate this week the right-wingers and conservatives will gain control of your local government.
I've heard the procrastinators and the ignorant saying it doesn't matter - that is blatantly not true.
In Auckland, it will be last election before the region gets carved up and is replaced by a new political structure. The people we elect will be sitting around tables a few months from now, negotiating over who gets what. More importantly, they will be deciding on who gets the public assets that we collectively own and have taken generations to create.
Already, parts of the airport and our power companies have been hocked off to private corporations by opportunist mayors and local body politicians. Make no mistake: big corporations and opportunists are circling our region in anticipation of picking up more assets.
There is a reason why employer groups and big business are promoting a super-city, and it's not for the benefit of the people. Our current mayors have been up to their eyeballs in early discussions with these predators. It wasn't so long ago that our mayors were advocating abolishing this year's elections and setting up a small unelected Great Auckland Council to rule us, with control of all of our public assets to do with what it wanted.
It was only Mike Lee's exposure of the plan that saw the mayors scuttling back under the rocks.
Don't think for a minute that once the election is over next week the proponents of privatisation won't be back with suitcases of cash.
No one is disputing that the Auckland region needs to be streamlined. But all the proposals we hear are from big vested interests that have no intention of replacing our current political structures with a robust, democratic system.
I believe this election is the most important that our region has had. My warning is this: if the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Aucklanders insist on their right to be indifferent to returning their ballot papers, they will allow candidates who support privatisation and centralised, elite control of our region to be elected.
A lot of people tell me that they don't know which candidates to support - they have a point. Therefore I am going to give you some unsolicited advice on what to do if you oppose a pro-privatisation, anti-democratic agenda.
The four main mayors and the regional council chairperson will be the main players after the election. Of the five incumbents Mike Lee is the only one with a track record in opposing asset sales.
Therefore, your choice for the regional council in your area is important. Lee's Regional People ticket, (including Sandra Coney and Paul Walbran in the West), and Residents Action Movement are the only two tickets you can trust to hold the line on asset sales.
Now we are into the last week, the candidates have been narrowed down to a few who can win. George Wood, on the North Shore, has no real competition and will win handsomely.
Out in Waitakere, John Tamihere is making a strong late run against incumbent Bob Harvey. Harvey has already sold his city's airport and power shares, and Tamihere has stated that he opposes asset sales.
Down south in Manukau, it's a three-way race, between Willie Jackson and Len Brown who oppose asset sales and Dick Quax who would sell anything that was not tied down.
In the main bout in Auckland City, John Banks actually skites about his asset sales record when he was mayor. Dick Hubbard takes a more cautious approach, although he isn't opposed to selling things. The other contenders have better public ownership credentials, but it's a two-way race. Hubbard has run a weak campaign, and there is no doubt Banks is in top form and poised for victory.
A month ago, I was pessimistic that the centre-left could retain control of Auckland City. But given that the right-wing is divided in several key wards, I believe the centre-left can scrape home for a majority and block Banks' pro-sale agenda if he wins.
This week we have been appalled at the military thugs who have been killing citizens in Myanmar. There are some reports that monks have been slaughtered in the hundreds because they have been demanding the right of the people to vote for their leaders. We read about the sacrifices by the monks and the imprisoned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and rage over our impotence.
We don't have to risk death to elect our rulers. We can do it this week with a simple tick. If you believe in the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar show it by sending back your ballot this week. Vote for any candidate you like, cross all the candidates out if you wish, but whatever you do, vote. Untold numbers of people have died throughout history for this privilege. The least you can do is make an effort.
* Disclosure: McCarten is a campaign media contact for John Tamihere and Willie Jackson.
