CEO Luncheon

Candidates strong on party policy but local concerns dismissed

"Held at the The Falls restaurant this month, the CEO luncheon was a great

success and not just due to the impeccable food"

At short notice, MPs Rodney Hide and Stephen Joyce were unable to attend the CEO
luncheon, yet, we enjoyed an enlightening discussion with two of the Mt Albert
electorate candidates, John Boscawen (Act Party) and Melissa Lee (National Party).

As both Melissa and John are already in parliament, John was asked to speak briefly
on what life is like as a List MP. John is an animated public speaker and it was interesting
to find that his role already has him committed six days a week.
A contributor to this workload is the deliberation on each bill passed. When a bill goes
through parliament, he explained, it has three readings which are set debates of 12
ten minute speeches. The speeches are allocated proportionality. Hence, as the Act party
has five of the 122 total MPs, they would have 1/24th of speeches.

However, the time slots cannot be split, so they are allotted an entire speech, i.e. 1/12,
essentially doubling their speaking time. Because their Cabinet Ministers are not in the house,
it behooves the back benchers, John, David Garrett and Sir Roger Douglas, to fill
these slots giving the three of them up to four times the speaking time in parliament
compared to the average back bencher. So, while this translates to a larger work load,
it is a tremendous opportunity, he said, for them to focus on any given issue.

John also devotes considerable time to Select Committees. Twice a week, he sits on the
Finance and Expenditure Committee - the gate keeper, as such, of government spending.
He is on the Commerce Committee which meets weekly for three to four hours, and the
Parliamentary Services Commission. From next month , he joins the Auckland Committee
to meet six days a week, 8am to 10pm until the end of July.

"How one would cope with constituency duties on top of that," says John, "I'm not entirely
sure, but it would be a privilege to be given the opportunity to find out."

The discussion then moved to questions of local business and economic development.
John believed it was not the job of local Council to be involved in promoting business, but
rather the function of central government. The government is working toward that end,
he said, by reviewing regulations that make it easier to do business, e.g. by changing
employment law to include a 90 day trial period and my minimising government waste
so taxes can be lowered. Similarly, Melissa Lee diverted the question of local business
to government policies suggesting that the infrastructure and telecommunications
spend of the recent budget would lead the country to recovery.

The RBA's Mike Gibson interjected on the topic of Law and Order that Lee had already
expressed as being a key issue in the Mt Albert bi-election. He told how the introduction of
a dedicated security base, brought to the area by the RBA, had reduced the cost of
burglaries by up to $750,000 in each of its first six years.

Crime is clearly an issue for the area, yet in that time, he had never been approached by
the Avondale Police for support in dealing with it.

Lee replied that Government is introducing new legislation to free up police time.
She cited the Bail Amendment bill as an example that has reduced bail for serious criminals.
She said, Western Region Police Inspector, Jim Wilson told her this one piece of
legislation had reduced their workload by one third leaving them free to concentrate on real crime.

Additionally the budget has made provision for a further 600 front line police, as well as
equipping all police districts with taser guns.

Gibson expressed his concern that the Auckland District Plan for our area may be
forgotten in the transition to the Super City. Though the RBA has spent years developing
this plan, both Lee and Boscawen admitted they'd never heard of it.
Gibson ended by reminding the candidates that the RBA is the largest business area
in the Mt Albert and that he hoped whoever won the election will take the time to
address its ongoing needs.

Members of the RBA enjoy great	hospitality at The Falls