Subscribe to RSSKey: Too Many Voices In Auck
Prime Minister John Key says the ongoing debate about what should be done with Queens Wharf, in relation to the RWC 2011, shows why his government’s Auckland local body governance reforms are needed.
He told a late afternoon Beehive news conference that this is because “there are too many voices, too many conflicts” to reach agreement on any issue of national significance in Auckland.
The prime minister confirmed that cabinet had discussed the issue today and had reached “certain conclusions” about what sort of Party Central should happen at the wharf, on Auckland’s waterfront.
He said that the RWC 2011 Minister, Murray McCully, would, as a result, have further discussions with the ARC Chair, Mike Lee and hopefully, they would be in a position to make an annoucement late this week.
Last open day, the public get a taste of Queens Wharf's potential
Asked whether he was a fan of the old near-100-year-old sheds, Mr Key said that he personally didn’t see much in the way of “redeeming features” in the sheds.
His personal perference remained a cruise ship terminal on the wharf, which was in the long-term interests of Auckland’s economy.
As that wasn’t agreed to yet by Auckland’s leaders (although Mike Lee strongly pressed for it), Mr Key said that there needed to be “something appropriate there” for a RWC “Fan Zone” and “Party Central.”
3 Comments
I still think Captain Cook wharf (the next one) needs to be the cruise ship terminal as it can have a ship on either side. Queens Wharf can then be a nice landscaped park.
“Too many voices… I know how about we pretend we still have a democracy in Auckland and put everything in CCOs”…
It scares me sometimes the amount of people around who seem to prefer that everywhere is run by a dictator. Auckland is a big city, there are many different voices to be heard.
As long as it is clear who/what is responsible for issues then it is healthy to have differing opinions, thats democracy.
In this case the voices seemed to have overwhelmingly panned previous rushed govt proposals for party central, so they had to line up the one local body head that agreed with them.