KEY POINTS:
Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard:
"I have always been concerned that the Government has turned around and said 'we will do what the people of Auckland want' when it comes to governance reform. That has ... led to consensus and lowest common denominator approach".
One Auckland Trust leader Grant Kirby:
"[A royal commission] is better than accepting the turkey plan by the councils".
Employers and Manufacturers (Northern) chief executive Alasdair Thompson:
"The overwhelming majority of Aucklanders will be delighted with this decision. The inquiry will give us the chance to set our city on a sustainable course for the future and ... put the local back into local government".
Act leader Rodney Hide:
"Good on the Government. What the councils have come up with was just a fiddle when we need something more radical".
National leader John Key:
"It has taken Labour eight long years to recognise it needs help and doesn't have the answers".
ARC chairman Mike Lee:
"The message coming from the public is local government has to be more cost-effective, open and relevant to the concerns of people".
Papakura Mayor John Robertson:
"I would want to see the robust analysis and would be very surprised if the royal commission came to that conclusion (of abolishing Papakura District Council)".
Rodney Mayor John Law:
"Close down the ARC, we don't need them, and I think the people will appreciate that".
North Shore Mayor George Wood:
"Deep down in my heart of hearts I'm pretty happy that the Government's decided to look at Auckland in a comprehensive manner. You probably could find quite a bit of cost savings ... There's only 1.3 million people in Auckland but there's a huge number of complex systems".
Auckland City Mayoral candidate John Banks:
"After my 30 years of association in Auckland government, it's good to see we are getting the ball rolling. It could well be that the greater Auckland ends up with one, two or three reconstituted territorial authorities. Seven territorial local authorities, 6000 bureaucrats, 230 elected members and six mayors are not working in the best interests of the greater Auckland. I could be charitable and describe Auckland as dysfunctional ... For Auckland to be a truly internationally competitive city this royal commission needs to get cracking, needs to get cracking".
Waitakere City Mayor Bob Harvey:
"It's very predictable. The only surprise is that it is a royal commission - a way for the Government to wash their hands of what they should already be doing. I think the submissions will be protracted and endless but the outcome will be the same. This region is overdue for a major rethink. I think that we will see a united Auckland. The only problem is that it will not be till the [2011] election. It will be our legacy but it will be a new breed of politicians leading it".
- additional reporting: Alanah May Eriksen
