Minister for Auckland Michael Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Minister for Auckland Michael Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
EDITORIAL:
Interesting to see newly-minted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reaching all the way back to the playbook of his predecessor Helen Clark to appoint a minister to look after Auckland.
The shoulder-tapped man at the post, Michael Wood, spent Sunday blinking into the media lights as Hipkins and the Aucklandmayor tried to explain why civic leadership appeared paralysed during a torrential and tragic weather event. Wood had a big task when Hipkins made the appointment, but it’s even tougher now the sky has fallen.
Clark’s Minister for Auckland Issues was established in 1999 “to ensure Auckland had a strong advocate in the Government and to nurture a strong relationship with the city’s local body leaders”.
Judith Tizard worked hard as an advocate for the city but the relationship “nurtured” with then Auckland mayor John Banks was never described as strong. For her efforts, she was mocked as “the Empress of Auckland” and “the Minister for Nothing”.
Judith Tizard in Western Park in 2011. Photo / Phil Walter, Getty Images, File
However, several things were achieved, notably the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill, guaranteeing funds for 11 groups such as Auckland Rescue Helicopter, the zoo and the Coastguard Northern Region.
When the portfolio was abolished in a Cabinet reshuffle in 2007, then Act Party leader Rodney Hide quipped: “Either Ms Tizard has solved all of Auckland’s problems or she never did anything in the first place and wasn’t needed.”
One of Wood’s first statements in the position was to take “a dig” at National’s spokesman for Auckland Simeon Brown about looking better with a shovel. For the MP for Roskill to achieve anywhere close to Tizard, Wood would do well to quit the personal jibes. Auckland has enough talkers, it needs action.
