Two a penny

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Auckland should be largely run by community councils with powers to set rates and compete for ratepayers and each others businesses, ACT MP Sir Roger Douglas said today. .

He suggested the single council board should be made up of a mayor and eight councillors elected at large and responsible for setting policy, and looking after region-wide issues such as roading and water.

Groups of ratepayers who lived next to another community council should also be able to opt out and join another council.

The former Labour finance minister said under the single council there should be a flexible community council structure with ratepayers able to decide its size and even set up their own councils.

Rates demands should set out where the money was being spent and ratepayers should be able to decide whether they preferred to get services such as rubbish collection and recycling from the private sector.

“The capacity to change council will create competition for ratepayers, which is likely to see value for money being delivered by local government,” Sir Roger said.

“The golden rule is that decisions must be made by those closest to the action.

“Unless they are required to raise the revenue, community councils will join the queue of special interests which advocate increased spending. Capability to make decisions also necessitates responsibility for revenue to pay it,” Sir Roger said.

Ms Kedgley said the bill as drafted gave too much power to the Auckland mayor and believed there needed to more councillors on the single council elected from wards

She was concerned that the single council could become a “bloated, inaccessible, remote monolith.”

Green MP Sue Kedgley also called for the role of community boards, as proposed in the bill, to be expanded to that of community councils with responsibility to deliver all local services within a fixed budget set by the wider single regional council. . .there is a real risk, in other words, that it will end up a super tanker, rather than a super city council”.there is a real risk, in other words, that it will end up a super tanker, rather than a super city council”

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A child is the latest victim of swine flu as New Zealand’s death toll has climbed to 11 and the flu season peak is yet to come.

There are now a total of 2443 confirmed cases of swine flu, or influenza A (H1N1), up from 2368 yesterday. .

No further details about the victim have been released, at the request of the family.

The child died within the past week in the Mid Central District Health Board region, and had underlying medical conditions.

New Zealand’s health services were still feeling the pressure from both seasonal and non-seasonal influenza this winter, but were coping well, said Health Minister Tony Ryall.

An eight-year-old girl also died from the virus in Wellington Hospital earlier this month.

Some hospitals were postponing elective surgery and were at full capacity in their intensive care units but were still on top of things, he said.

“What this surveillance data shows us is that we have not yet reached a peak in the number of people who will experience influenza this year.

“Latest data from ESR’s GP sentinel surveillance system shows a sharp spike in the number of consultations for influenza-like illnesses,” Mr Ryall said.”

Healthline continued to receive a large number of calls from people with influenza-like symptoms, although the volume of calls had dropped in the past week. We anticipate that our health services will continue to be under pressure for some time yet.

So far, the highest consultation rates have been reported among children and teenagers aged from birth to 19 years.

There was a continuing sharp increase in consultations for influenza like illnesses through ESR’s GP sentinel surveillance system since last week, said deputy director of public health Fran McGrath.

The highest weekly influenza consultation rates have been reported from South Auckland, Wellington and South Canterbury health districts.

The highest weekly influenza consultation rates have been reported from South Auckland, Wellington and South Canterbury health districts