Every village has one - but Auckland has two!

If you ever thought relationships between straight men were uncomplicated, try working out the bromance between the "King of Queen Street" Alex Swney and the "Mayor of Newmarket" Cameron Brewer. Theirs is a very fraught friendship indeed. It goes hot to cold very quickly... and very publicly. But is it all for real?

Over the last three years since I've been writing my Spy column, these two have fallen in and out of man love several times.

Once, I remember reporting they'd done a tandem presentation to the very dusty Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, with Swney opening his speech and declaring that he and Brewer were gay lovers! Stony silence broke out among the Christchurch godfathers. Man love is very clearly not a joking matter in plain country. Swney quickly assured them it was just some fun.

Then Swney stood for the Auckland mayoralty against Brewer's old boss/buddy John Banks. During the bruising 2007 mayoral campaign, my photographer snapped Swney and Brewer at loggerheads and having a stand up argument at a glitzy lunch. For real!

More recently, there's been Swney's launch of the $1.8m Big Little City marketing campaign to help attract Kiwis over the Bombay Hills. Not so surprisingly, Brewer was quick to rubbish the campaign and call the catch-phrase "ridiculous", "meaningless" and "confusing". Swney hit back against the self-styled mayor of Newmarket, standing up for his turf.

"His Worship" declared in my column last Sunday that the 84-year-old man riding around on his push bike in the Big Little City television commercial wasn't wearing a helmet. The next day, Bernard Orsman in the New Zealand Herald ran a front-page story on the helmet issue, with Swney saying the old man will now be seen wearing a helmet after a complaint was laid. Brewer says it wasn't him.

Then, there was this week's downtown Hikoi against the Super City. Again, Brewer was all over this like a cheap suit supposedly taking pity on Swney, claiming the Queen Street retailers are struggling enough without the "Big Little City, Open Daily" being forced to closed. Brewer's heartfelt concern for Swney and his retailers even made it to the Sydney Morning Herald. However the next morning it was Swney saying Brewer's claims were ridiculous and trying hard to spin the Hikoi into a positive for the CBD.

It's all quite exhausting, really. But rest assured most of it is complete bollocks and game playing. Both men love media attention and know the media love a bit of old fashioned village rivalry and they serve it up on a plate for mutual benefit and exposure.

In fact, Brewer once confided to me that it was Swney who helped get him get the job at the Newmarket Business Association and for that he will always be indebted. Swney, I reckon, must now wonder why on earth he did that!

 

Rachel Glucina

Pictured above: Cameron Brewer and Alex Swney. Photo / Norrie Montgomery