Before I go any further, I want to acknowledge the member Tangi Utikere, who has a good understanding of the issue, having been a councillor and then Deputy Mayor of Palmerston North, and now a much-liked MP from the area. While Mr Utikere has moved from local government to central government, there are a lot of similarities between his old job and new job. One of these similarities is that both the roles are democratically elected and people expect transparency from decision makers at these levels. 