Local activist Lisa Prager has been a thorn in Auckland government’s side for a long time.
We asked her what she thinks of the current situation, and what it is that has gone so wrong.
Lisa Prager told us that Mayor Phil Goff is the most dangerous and destructive mayor we have ever had.“ He is a bully, and extremely manipulative. Goff leads a council which is not open and transparent,’ she added.
On the one issue of trees in Auckland, Prager told us Goff has overseen more trees destroyed than any other mayor in Auckland’s history. He talks about planting a million trees, while allowing the demolition of Western Springs forest, and hundreds of other trees which are our current carbon sinks. “It’s political double speak,” says Prager.
Lisa Prager says the super city was developed for big business by big business. “Ask Rodney Hide,” she challenged me. “He’ll tell you it was a mistake. There has been a major shift from ‘the public’ to ‘the private’. Of 20 or so corporations that run Auckland services, all but one are multi-national corporations.”
Prager does not mince her words. “Democracy is dead at local level,” she maintains, “and fake and flawed consultation remain.”
Like many of us Lisa Prager believes CCOs (so-called council controlled organisations) is a terrible model. She bemoans the fact that all we are left with is the ability to stand up and say no like her group is doing over the destruction of the Western Springs forest.
We discussed AT’s destructive behaviour on our central city streets, West Lynn, Queen Street, and now Ponsonby Road.
Lisa Prager believes we are being socially engineered by Auckland Transport. Their work, with little or no consultation in West Lynn has been a shambles now for two years. They have promised to fix a dangerous crossing, stop water pouring into shops, and re-do much of the flawed ‘improvements’, that have made West Lynn worse.
Now they’ve moved on to Ponsonby Road. “ I’m not a conspiracy theorist,” Lisa told us, “ the guerrilla urbanism is hastening everybody to the malls, where council allows, or provides ,ample parking. Local shopping precincts like Ponsonby Road will be killed,” Prager told us. Maybe big boys like Westfields’ owners are in on the plot.
“It’s part of the neo-liberal economic model brought to New Zealand by Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble, former Labour party stalwarts. Goff is just as neo-liberal as they were,” believes Prager.
We asked Lisa Prager why the council is so opposed to her activism. “ They are afraid of people who speak the truth,” she said.
Lisa Prager calls for the CCOs to be dissolved. “The problem is from the top down. I have no complaint with lower ranking officers. They are just following orders. The ultimate desire is to ‘socially engineer us’, argues Prager.
“I stand for social justice, a fair society, with equity and freedom of speech,” is how Lisa Prager describes her philosophy. “ We are now beyond nanny state, heading into a dictatorship, aiming to socially engineer us and stifle democratic debate.”
Prager believes it’s all about power and control, including a failure of the council CEO. Where did the new guy come from, I asked Lisa. “He knew where the bodies were buried,” she joked.
In the old days, Lisa agreed, we could trust our councillors. “Now elected members fail to serve us. They have largely been captured by multi-nationals, and it’s all about profit.”
Lisa Prager is sad to admit that the super city has failed to serve us and been captured for profit not service.
Even public transport is privately owned-a sad fact in a country at present led by a centre-left government.
The damage done by neo-liberalism in the 80s and 90s lingers on, and as Sir Edmund Thomas, former Appeal Court judge has said, “ New Zealand will never again be a fair and just society until we rid ourselves of the last vestiges of neo-liberalism.”
Goff represents one of those last vestiges, and Ponsonby News agrees with Lisa Prager that he must go, taking with him the flawed CCO model, so we can bring back some democracy to our local government.
At a time in our history when only about 30% of us vote in local body elections, activists like Lisa Prager carry out a vital role trying to keep our council honest. Lisa would tell you she’s losing the battle, but we are proud of her tenacity under pressure, and for her herculean efforts. (JOHN ELLIOTT)
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