KEY POINTS:
- Who do you like better between Banksy and Hubbard?
Dick Hubbard faces an uphill battle to break the bogey of one-term mayors in Auckland City with a Herald-DigiPoll survey showing his old rival John Banks leaping to an early lead.
The first poll of the mayoralty race shows Mr Banks, a former mayor, on 43.2 per cent, 5.8 points clear of Mr Hubbard on 37.4 per cent. Pornography industry figure Steve Crow was a distant third on 7.9 per cent.
The results are a turnaround from the 2004 local body elections when Mr Hubbard, the cereal maker and political novice, beat Mr Banks, the former National Party Cabinet minister, by a whopping 19,016 votes.
Last night, Mr Hubbard said it was premature to suggest voters were unhappy with his performance. Over the next month he would roll out the key messages of his campaign.
The mayor said he believed the polls would swing about and other candidates, such as Heart of the City chief executive Alex Swney, could enter the race and change the figures.
"I always expected to have to defend the mayoralty fiercely ... and I'm certainly determined to break the cycle of one-term mayors," Mr Hubbard said.
If he loses this election, Mr Hubbard will become Auckland City's third successive one-term mayor. Mr Banks and his predecessor, Christine Fletcher, were each voted out after just three years in the job.
Mr Banks, who is in full campaign mode knocking on doors and doing the taxi ranks, said he was not taking too much out of the poll.
"I'm glad I'm slightly in front and humbled by the support."
Mr Banks said he was getting positive feedback but also the message not to get ahead of himself. The 60-year-old has promised a new style of consulting ratepayers and building goodwill, and new policies such as a commitment to build world-class public transport.
Mr Hubbard has taken Mr Banks' so-called "transmogrification" with a grain of salt, saying after 18 years in politics there was no way he had had a road-to-Damascus conversion and was a softer, gentler person.
The poll also showed declared candidates Lisa Prager and John Hinchcliff on 6.3 and 5.2 per cent respectively,
It asked Auckland City residents about other high-profile people mentioned as possible mayoral candidates, including former All Black coach John Hart, former Prime Minister Mike Moore, Auckland Issues Minister Judith Tizard, former Work and Income boss Christine Rankin and deputy mayor Bruce Hucker.
Of these, Mr Hart and Mr Moore topped the list but when they were put in the overall vote with the existing candidates, they polled well below Mr Banks and Mr Hubbard.
The poll coincides with the launch yesterday of a breakaway centre-right group, 1Auckland.com, with Mr Crow as an executive member.
The first signs were not encouraging for 1Auckland.com, with no confirmed candidates, no policies and the website of the group not up and running last night.
Mr Crow played down his role with the party, saying he was simply a founding member and on the executive and was running as an independent candidate for mayor. He had not put any money into the party.
Mr Crow, who has admitted to holding last year's Boobs on Bikes parade down Queen St to "get a heap of free publicity", said standing for the mayoralty was not a publicity stunt.
"This is a very serious challenge ... because I really believe Auckland is broken and I really believe that the Dick Hubbards and John Banks of this world are effectively the same," said Mr Crow, who is pushing to abolish Auckland City and create one council for the Auckland region.
Mr Swney is being coy about standing for the mayoralty after rumours started circulating on Friday that the flamboyant businessman was entering the race. Last night, two supporters, former Citizens & Ratepayers Now councillor Greg McKeown and Stop the Eastern Motorway campaigner Terry Gould, said they were urging Mr Swney to stand.
"People are feeling that Dick Hubbard is Mr Flipflop and John Banks was tossed out lock, stock and barrel three years ago. Alex would provide a credible alternative," Mr Gould said.
Meanwhile, City Vision yesterday selected Western Bays Community Board chairman Graeme Easte as a replacement council candidate in the ward to replace Dr Hucker, who resigned from the centre-left ticket last week.
