Kate Hawkesby: Where are the women in Auckland mayoral race?

If it's a choice between John Tamihere and Phil Goff, then no thanks, says Kate Hawkesby. Photo / NZME

COMMENT:

The race to lead our biggest city is heating up.

Auckland may or may not have a deja vu moment when John Banks tips his hat into the ring, again.

But currently the city has a choice basically between Phil Goff, or John Tamihere.

I'm not keen on either.

I voted for Phil Goff last time round – but I don't think he's done a great job.

The council is a still the disgruntled mess it always was, there are things still hopelessly out of control like Auckland's roads, infrastructure, transport and town planning.

But I wouldn't vote for Tamihere either.

His offensive comments a few years ago referring to some of his colleagues as "front bums", "queers" and "tossers" soured it for me.

Do we need another Trump-esque name-caller in a position of power? I think not.

There's also the roast busters scandal where he suffered public backlash after seemingly trivialising rape allegations on his radio show.

He's keen on grabbing headlines and I'm not sure that makes you a safe bet.

Sometimes it just makes you a person who makes a lot of noise.

He'll sack the AT board, sell the ports, shake up the council-controlled organisations, he says.

But to be a leader you have to actually show leadership and that goes further than finger-pointing and name-calling, it involves actually coming up with solutions.

It also involves being able to work collaboratively alongside people, and not being overly sensitive to criticism.

I don't think Tamihere has the traits needed, but Goff's been a bit of a damp squib too.

So where to from here?

Well at the risk of sounding like a gender equality preacher – where are the women?
Not that a woman would necessarily be any better, but it'd be nice to have some variety in the race.

This is 2019, come on.

I grew up with Dame Cath Tizard as Mayor, the first woman to hold the title, she went on to be our first female Governor-General too.

She was inspirational. I remember as a 15-year-old journalism student going to interview her for the school paper.

She was full of passion, drive and enthusiasm, extremely accessible and very encouraging.

Did I love her just because she was a woman and it was novel seeing one in that position?
I don't know. I just know that I felt inspired by her.

I don't believe in women having jobs for women's sake. I am a strong believer in the best person for the job.

But if it's a choice between John Tamihere and Phil Goff, then no thanks.