Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown criticising cones on Victoria St in Auckland's CBD. Video / Bernard Orsman
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown took potshots and made jokes at the expense of many of the city’s business elite at the exclusive Northern Club today.
In a colourful speech at NZME’s Project Auckland lunch, Brown gave a brutal assessment of what he thinks is wrong with the city and who is at fault. He also threatened “to go feral” on both the Labour and National parties ahead of the general election if they don’t deliver solutions for Auckland.
First up was Dr Sean Sweeney, chief executive of the City Rail Link, whose “mathematical genius” in coming up with $12 billion in benefits had Brown saying, “If you believe that, you will believe anything.” He did, however, have sympathy with Sweeney “battling away” in the job.
“It’s not a bad project. We just have to live long enough to get to the end of it,” he said to laughter in the room.
Seated at the top table alongside ANZ NZ boss Antonia Watson, Brown said she “had just ground up everybody’s mortgages into submission” when talking about the impact of raising council rates at a time of higher mortgages.
Turning to one of Brown’s favourite issues, his war on road cones, the mayor pointed to new Auckland Transport interim chief executive Dean Kimpton and, in a raised voice, said: “Are you listening?”
Twice, Brown challenged Kimpton about why he had seen rows of road cones on Victoria St protecting one truck when walking to the Northern Club. Once during the speech and after the lunch, where Kimpton was left in no doubt about the need to address the issue.
On a walk back to the council headquarters, Brown pointed out to the Herald an area on Victoria St coned off with two utes and no one working, arguing it was “completely unacceptable in the middle of the day”.
It wasn’t just individuals on Brown’s hitlist, he also attacked MBIE, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment - “the three things it is designed to prevent” - when talking about the rules holding back converting office buildings to apartments in the central city.
The Government’s plans for light rail and harbour crossing options months out from the election also came under fire from Brown, who said they “are not real, they are just imaginary things”.
Tommy Parker, who heads the light rail project in Auckland and was at the lunch, was asked by Brown to put his hand up.
Auckland light rail boss Tommy Parker.
“There he is. Tommy takes it quite on the chin from me. We get on pretty well,” said Brown.
On the council, Brown was surprised “the council works at all”, and suggested a streamlined structure of five regional councillors for the north, south, east, west and central city, and five councillors elected at large.
“I spent much of last year suggesting Rodney Hide should have stuck to ballroom dancing, which he wasn’t very good at. It covers too big an area. Nobody in Wellsford thought they were part of Auckland, and nobody in Pukekohe wanted to be part of Auckland.”
To a question from the engineering firm Beca chief executive Greg Lowe, Brown belittled the lack of engineers on the boards of council-controlled organisations, citing his experience as an engineer on the Vector and Transpower boards.
New Auckland Transport interim chief executive Dean Kimpton was told by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to sort out road cones. Photo / Mark Tantrum
“To have people on those boards who don’t know or understand what it is you are doing, no matter how good you are and how many boards you are on, is bizarre.
“It is good to see John Key is on the ANZ board because he knows how to make money,” Brown said.
With a general election looming in six months, Brown said he is being nice at the moment, “but I threaten to go feral later in the year if we don’t get some marching [to Auckland] from both of the two parties, because neither of them is particularly strong on what they are going to do for the benefit of Auckland”.
