What an extraordinary meeting

By ANNE BESTON

Yesterday was an unusual day for the Auckland Regional Council: the ratepayers came to visit.

ARC meetings are generally sparsely attended affairs, but for this extraordinary meeting over its new, unpopular rates rise, the council has had to televise proceedings for those unable to fit in the 100-seat council chamber.

ARC chairwoman Gwen Bull forgoes the pre-meeting cup-of-tea-and-mingle, appearing 10 minutes before start time in a scarlet suit with snappy black trim.

She has obviously decided that if she's going to be in the spotlight, she might as well make the most of it.

The carefully coiffured Mrs Bull is accompanied by her even more deftly styled deputy and former television newsreader, Philip Sherry.

The white-haired Sherry sticks protectively by his leader's side as she greets the mix of ordinary ratepayers and various groupings of community activists - from water anti-privatisation people to the Wake Up Auckland group set up to oppose anything Auckland Mayor John Banks is in favour of.

Mrs Bull calls for order and the lawyers give their advice. The legal arguments seem to boil down to: We don't think you can reset the rate, but if you really, really want to, you could probably find a way.

"Hope you're not paying these guys!" someone yells.

When the lawyers have done, Employers and Manufacturers Association spokesman Alasdair Thompson, as one of four official speakers, leaps to his feet to defend the ARC against the heckling rabble.

The council was brave to ditch the business differential, he says, there could be no justification for business to pay more of the rates burden than residents.

"Corporate parasite!" the heckling rabble yells.

After Mr Thompson, anti-rates campaigner Elaine West introduces a surreal quality to proceedings.

"I stand here before you today with thousands of invisible, outraged ratepayers beside me," she announces, waving a petition at councillors.

With the official public delegations over, including a well-argued and thoughtful analysis from ratepayer leader David Thornton on exactly how the council can extricate itself from this mess, the council gets down to business.

West Auckland-based councillor Paul Walbran puts a motion on the table: that the council urgently set up a rates review committee to advise on how the hated rates can be reset.

Councillor Catherine Harland rises to defend the rates, but ends up attacking the media for overstating the rates rise.

Wearing her trademark cowboy hat, activist Lisa Prager, the woman probably best known for sitting in Mayor Banks' chair at a meeting over pensioner housing, shouts: "That's right, blame the media!"

"Order, or you will leave the chamber!" Mrs Bull warns.

"That's okay," Prager replies, "I have to go at five anyway."

Abruptly, a recess is called and Mrs Bull quickly leaves the room, trailed by Sherry, who has sat with rigor-mortis-like stillness throughout the meeting.

When it reconvenes, the council votes 7-4 against resetting the rate but does pass a motion to look at the penalty/instalment payments issue.

It is a victory of sorts for the chair; after all, Mrs Bull voted for this system and has vigorously defended it. She voted against both motions.

But the job of leading the ARC is unlikely to get easier in the months ahead.

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