In the course of this study, I have attended - here on the island and in Auckland - public discussions and private gatherings, policy hearings and over 30 community board meetings. I have reviewed policy documents and the submissions made by people from this island.

I would like to offer you a way of appreciating why good governance matters to the residents of this island and why the community board is so important for that. The fact that the community board is our focus reflects the importance we attach to this institution. In my submission I explained that good governance can be understood as reflection, deliberation and accountability. I would like to illustrate what I mean by that with three examples.

1. Reflection means forming sound opinions that can be argued for.Good governance is built on the authentic involvement of affected stakeholder. Meaningful participation in decision making needs a public that can understand complex issues and available options for effectively expressing their preferences. Community based institutions play a critical role in facilitating informed thinking and deciding on shared priorities.

In 2006 the ACC notified a revised draft district plan. This followed an extended period of public consultations. It contained significant changes in the regulations affecting property owners, particularly the type of landholdings common on GBI. The plan is a legal document that has a very big effect on the lives and livelihoods of landowners.

At the time, the community board recognised the importance of this document and worked intensively with rate payers to reflect on and analyse the impacts. How will this affect us? How can we protect our identities? How can we make ourselves understood?As a result, an extraordinarily large number of submissions were received. 619 alone disputed land classification on Great Barrier Island. This reflected very poorly either on the consultation process that had produced this contested document, or the rationale the city authorities had adopted.

2. Democratic governance is built on deliberation and dialogue.

Democracy is not simply about the vote of the majority, but assumes that different points of view can be argued in parliaments, councils, board rooms and in public. The process of deliberation brings everybody's knowledge and wisdom into the decisions made. Dialogue makes it possible to form a sense of shared purpose.

When deliberation is inadequate, any decision made will lack popular support. A good example is the recent debacle of the proposal for a marine reserve on our shores by the Minister of Conservation which was aborted last month by the Minister of Fisheries. He gave lack of local support as the reason for his decision to disagree with the proposal. The lack of dialogue in the process was denounced by many parties who had been 'consulted' without a sense of having been listened to.

3. There is widespread readiness on the island to enter into a dialogue to discuss alternative forms of conservation management. The community board immediately recognised its responsibility to facilitate dialogue by writing within days of this decision to the ministers of conservation and fisheries as well as the MP for Auckland Central. If their offer is accepted, a much more productive dialogue will become possible.Accountability is fundamental to a representative democracy

International surveys have documented that distrust of government agendas is deeply ingrained in the public of New Zealand. This is expressed even more strongly here in this community. Such a sense of disaffection is only aggravated when people lack the ability to question seemingly arbitrary rules, to appeal against unfair decision making, or to claim for promises made to be upheld. Our trust in authority is in urgent need of first aid.

You ask, How do we ensure that whatever form of local government is adopted remains properly accountable to the people of Auckland? Any elected representatives must be held accountable during their term of office. In this community we can walk into any community board meeting where we will be assured that our concerns will be represented in Auckland and Wellington on the issues that matter to us here.But if you try to call Greys Ave to find out why your property has just been reclassified from rural to urban, you will be passed from office to office until you give up in frustration. That is not accountability.These are times of rapid social change. Electoral reform, resource management reform, governance reform are following in succession. A marginal community like Great Barrier Island can only sustain itself by being highly adaptable. I want to close with one story that illustrates that, the Great Barrier Island community health centre.

This island is full of innovative solutions that were created where universal solutions did not fit. I have a long list that demonstrates why Great Barrier Island needs the ability to be able to develop its own governance solutions. Ensuring that community members can reflect, deliberate and demand accountability is fundamental to that.