The second of a three part series of live studio discussions around the impending Auckland Super City and how to maximise the benefits of this momentous change was hosted by Unitec Institute of Technology on Tuesday 27 July.

The second of a three part series of live studio discussions around the impending Auckland Super City and how to maximise the benefits of this momentous change was hosted by Unitec Institute of Technology on Tuesday 27 July.

The first session was held last Tuesday and created a vigorous debate amongst the guest panelists including the Chair of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance Peter Salmon and Waitakere City Council Mayor Bob Harvey and the live audience.

Rod Oram, business journalist, commentator and adjunct professor at Unitec’s Department of Management and Marketing, is facilitating the series of discussions.

The three-evening series entitled “Super City – Win or Lose?” has attracted some of the country’s top local government experts as panelists who are taking the opportunity to inform the studio and online audience about the pros and cons of having the Super City.

Upcoming panelists include MP Shane Jones who sat on the select committee for the Super City and Peter McKinlay the Director of the AUT Centre for Local Government research facility.

The discussions are the second Unitec Forum for the Future series that Unitec has organised. The first was held in October 2009 to stimulate discussion around the goal of raising New Zealand’s GDP to equal Australia’s by 2025.

The focus of each forum is tackled in a series of three lively 90-minute live studio debates bringing together community and business leaders, academics and students in front of a live audience.

The event is streamed live on Twitter and the online live audience can tweet questions to the panelists during the event.

The 20 July forum looked at the Why? Why do we need to change regional governance structures to do so?”  while the 27 July forum considered the What? – What can we do to make the new system perform at its best for the people of Auckland and New Zealand? The 3 August session will consider the How? How can we make the new systems perform at its best for the people of Auckland and New Zealand?

“The Unitec Forum for the Future- Super City Win or Lose? aims to stimulate thinking and debate on how we can make the new Super City structure work for the community of Auckland and New Zealand as a whole,” says Rod Oram.

“We will seek to help our audience and online users who have tuned in, to understand why the current system needed to be changed and how the new system has the opportunity to give Auckland vision and momentum.”

Associate Professor and Head of Unitec’s Department of Management and Marketing, Robert Davis says the forum offers a great opportunity for students, guests and the live audience to engage in a lively debate about the challenges we face in making Auckland the Super City.

“We will tackle issues in setting up a Super City including concerns that the Maori and Pacific Island voice has so far been ignored and sidelined which is not reflective of the Government’s position on this,” he says.

View video clips from: Super City Win or Lose? Session 1.

Tweet your questions live this coming Tuesday July 27 between 5 and 7pm http://twitter.com/UnitecFTF

Watch the live stream here.

For more information go to: http://thedomm.com/2010/06/25/forum-of-the-future-2010/