By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting
Auckland Council will decide today whether to hand its pools and leisure centers over to private businesses, despite all the chairs of Tamaki Makaurau’s local boards opposing the move.
Apulu Reece Autagavaia, the chair of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board, said they wrote to the council boss, mayor and councillors to say “this is wrong”.
“These are local community facilities that are governed by local boards.
“We are the governors of these facilities, therefore the decision should come back to us. We’re the ones that know our local communities best and to have a regional committee or staff members make this decision on behalf of our communities takes away localism.”
Council recently completed its review how the city’s pools and leisure centres were being managed. On July 24, they held a workshop to discuss the options, and today [August 1] they will decide.
But Apulu said the process is lacked vital public consultation
“We need to ensure that our local people can have their views and also have their views heard but also reflected in the decisions that are made for the city.”
Ōtara, Papatoetoe, and Māngere have council-run facilities in South Auckland, which regular feedback shows the community appreciates and supports, he said.
“We can see within our own ward, the difference between a council-run facility compared to a private one. And that’s reflected in the public surveys that council regularly does … the privately run ones, there’s a drop in service and again, a drop in confidence by our communities.”
The way that these private operators will make their profits is by either increasing the prices or diminishing the services, Apulu adds.
He foresees that those small charges will hit the Pacific and Māori communities the hardest.
“We already see that with central governments, with things like $5 prescription fees, public transport. So all those things might seem small and probably insignificant to more affluent families but when you add them all up, it’s a significant amount for our communities in South Auckland.”
Max Hardy, Auckland Council Director of Group Strategy, clarified that Auckland Council is reviewing how its 42 pools and leisure centres are managed.
“We are not looking at ‘selling off or privatising’ the council’s pool and leisure centres. They will remain important council services and in council ownership. However, the review explores other operating models, including options for private operators managing services.”
However, Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board chair Tauanu’u Nick Bakulich is worried about the instability and lack of information.
“It’s very unclear and uncertain the future around the staff of our pools and recreation centres. So there’s no guarantee as far as we’re concerned. We don’t see a guarantee of their working future.”
He strongly opposes the proposal to privatise these services, especially during these challenging times when the community is already struggling with the cost of living.
“If they’re going to make such a significant change, why is it that it hasn’t been put into the public space? I mean these spaces are largely funded by the ratepayer and I would imagine that the ratepayer should have a right to be consulted.”
“As we know, once you start privatising all of our assets, it can be very hard to reverse that.”
Will Flavell, the deputy chair of the Henderson-Massey Local Board, also opposed the out-sourcing of management for aquatic centers.
“Personally, I’m vehemently against the privatisation of our aquatic centres,” he says, stressing the importance of keeping them under Auckland Council’s control.
“Privatisation means the willingness for companies to make a profit, and I think that should not be the priority of our aquatic centres, so we’re definitely against it.
“If you privatise it, the main aim is to make a profit, and I don’t believe in that.
“Our local board does not support privatisation of our aquatic centres. We need to keep it in council’s hands. It’s a public facility.”
