Super city will cost ratepayers about $750 each

Frustrated by the Government's refusal to say how much it would cost to implement and run the proposed Auckland super council, the Labour Party commissioned an economist to do the work.But it wasn't an independent economist, it was a person who lost the Labour nomination for Mt Albert to David Shearer. Labour commissioned Rhema Vaithianathan, notorious for writing a journal article on the economics of female genital cutting, who said each of Auckland's estimated 5004 ratepayers would have to pay $750 in implementation costs and as many as 817 people would lose their jobs.