Now-former chair of Te Whatu Ora Rob Campbell is refusing to go quietly, tensions are high at Napier public meeting and Indonesian forces negotiating the Kiwi pilot held hostage to be released in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
On the day Auckland was hit by the worst flooding event in recorded history, and the city’s mayor came under fire for his inaction, Wayne Brown’s diary was an empty slate.
Released under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, Brown’s diary had only one item on January 27- an unspecified Teams meeting at 7pm.
But according to a spokesperson for the mayor, that meeting was merely a placeholder, “created by admin for IT purposes”.
Auckland’s mayor was heavily criticised on the night of the flooding and in the week after for his inaction as the rain fell.
Political leaders were calling for Brown to declare a state of emergency in Auckland as people were being flooded out of their homes, and four people eventually died.
Rānui residents have called for Auckland Council to step up and maintain the streams in the area as houses were swept away in the floods. Photo / Supplied.
Brown only made that call after 9pm, about five hours after the flooding started to hit several suburbs of Auckland.
“I dropped the ball on Friday,” Brown said a week after the flooding.
“I was too slow to be seen. The communications weren’t fast enough, including mine. I am sorry.”
RNZ asked Brown what work he was doing on January 27, when his diary was empty.
A spokesperson responded saying; “the events of the first 24 to 28 hours of the major weather event that began on Friday, 27 January 2023, will be covered in an independent review of the immediate emergency response”.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown at the West Harbour Fire Station fronting the media in relation to the worst flooding the Auckland region has ever experienced. Photo / Dean Purcell
They gave no information on what mayoral work Brown might have been doing.
It is known that Brown had planned to play tennis on the morning of January 27, but that was hampered by rain. The planned tennis match was not listed in Brown’s mayoral diary.
Brown has said he was in his office by 4pm, but he was not receiving updates on the weather from Emergency Management because he was not on the mailing list.
The day before the weather hit Auckland, Brown had 10 appointments, such as a review of a communication and engagement plan attended by members of his communications and strategy team, including PR manager Mapihi Opai, head of policy and communications Matthew Hooton, and his mayoral campaign manager Chris Matthews.
On January 28, Brown had two official events listed in his diary, both weather-related, and there were five events listed for January 29, again, all weather-related.
