John Banks: It still holds true - Auckland's future calls for bold ideas

John Banks is the Mayor of Auckland City. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Opinion

On June 2, 1964, the New Zealand Herald marked Auckland's population reaching half a million with the headline - "The future calls for bold ideas".

Forty-five years later, with a population approaching one and a half million, this headline remains just as valid. For Auckland to be truly successful as an internationally competitive city, we need a shared ambition for its future. We must build on our strengths and substantially lift our game, not only for Auckland, but for New Zealand.

With one third of the population and one third of the economy concentrated in this great city, what Auckland does impacts disproportionately on the whole country. It is worth noting that Auckland:

- Is the engine room of the New Zealand economy.

- Is the commercial capital of New Zealand (two-thirds of the top 200 companies are based here).

- Educates the majority of our graduates.

- Has has a unique set of legal, IT, financial and creative skills and is the "portal" for New Zealand to the global economy.

- Receives 70 per cent of all international visitors to New Zealand.

Farmers also depend on Auckland's success. It is no accident that Fonterra is here because of the collection of business and legal skills that no other New Zealand city has. Even a bottle of wine from regional New Zealand is likely to be labelled, patented, marketed and exported from Auckland.

Few other countries have more than a third of their population living in a single city as New Zealand does, with 34 per cent living in Auckland. Furthermore, more than half (54 per cent) of the population now live north of Taupo (and this is projected to increase).

And Auckland is likely to grow by the population of Wellington by 2026 when two million people will call Auckland their home.

In a global climate of uncertainty, success for Auckland becomes even more urgent. Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin are all important to New Zealand's future but Auckland's role is critical.

Auckland can do more to contribute to New Zealand's economic recovery because our under-performance is holding back the whole nation. Without bold ideas and brave leadership from Auckland, this nation will never reach the living standards of those countries ranked in the top half of the OECD. Auckland's relative decline on an Australasian city basis has reached a frightening level.

Greater Auckland's income per head is about one third lower than Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

While Vancouver was recently rated fourth equal with Auckland in a global quality of life survey, in the provision of infrastructure Vancouver was rated sixth and Auckland 43rd.

Transport will be one of the key benefactors of the new governance model because decisions must be regionally focused. What we don't need is what we have got - multiple agencies involved in planning and implementing transport across Auckland.

Because Auckland's success is critical to New Zealand's fortunes, the proposed changes to local government are a vital step to realising Auckland's potential. These reforms provide the opportunity to unite the region around a commitment to lifting our game, underpinned by affordable progress.

A unitary council will represent all citizens in Auckland and provide legitimacy and authority to the region's voice, at the same time as empowering local communities.

Inspired leadership will pull every strand of this remarkable region together so that we can finally pull our weight.

The success of Auckland will be built on reinforcing the places that make us special, ensuring they are valued and protected, including this region's unique architectural and natural heritage - volcanoes, harbours, beaches and ranges.

And when I refer to the waterfront, I don't just mean Queens Wharf and the Tank Farm, but the areas that unite all people and places of this region - the Manukau foreshore, Gulf Harbour, Herald Island, Devonport, Waiheke and Great Barrier.

We have much going for us, but also many challenges. Within our population, we have pockets of intergenerational deprivation that need to be grappled with.

There are many positive things already happening - the Counties Manukau Education Trust, the Waitakere Film Cluster, the Tamaki Transformation Project and the regeneration of Northcote Central. In spite of these things there are still unsustainable levels of inequality in parts of the region.

The success of the new Auckland Council will depend on leadership that embraces a shared sense of belonging and participation, for all people, including the diverse groups that make up our multicultural citizenship.

History does not end now. As Theodore Roosevelt said: "In any moment of decision the best thing that you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

For Auckland the golden moment of opportunity has arrived. There can be no going back - "the future calls for bold ideas".

* John Banks is Mayor of Auckland City and is interested in heading the new council planned for the whole region.