Heather du Plessis-Allan

Point of difference with TSB Heartland would be the regional focus, wouldn't it?

What do you think, by the way, because this is the first time I've spoken to you since the Budget, what do you make of that prudential levy that was announced in the Budget on the banks?

It's a very good question that you asked, Kent.

Very good morning, Heather.

Yes, it will.

Very clearly, people who are not democratically elected to council should not have voting rights when they dispend ratepayer money, and we're fixing that problem.

We haven't got the exact number, but there are a large number of committees across pretty much every council in the country.

It would be in the hundreds, but the exact number is

It's not actually known because technically a council can appoint and do this every day, make these changes quite regularly, but there's a lot.

Our view is that it will have an effect upon pretty much every council in the country.

Every council in the country has a subcommittee that has a non-elected individual on it.

Yes, that's our understanding.

Okay.

Yes.

So this is a specific board set up for Auckland Council.

Short answer is that for the independent Māori statutory board, those members will only be able to vote on council committees where the law specifically enables it.

And what that means is that that committee is set up under a different act.

So they retain their voting rights?

If it's related to the specific Act, so it relates to where they're doing the management of natural and physical resources, if they're on a subcommittee doing that, then they're able to vote.

Anything else, they're not able to.