Auckland's new Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Greg Bowker
Dear Aucklanders,
You couldn't have sent a clearer message and I promise you it's been heard.
At over 300 campaign events, interviews and debates over the last six months, you made it clear you love Auckland and its people. But you know much of it is broken.
That's led by transport, plus crime, unfinished projects and endless red cones, rising costs and council waste.
My responsibility as your new Mayor is to fix it.
Yesterday was a bad election day for defenders of the status quo, but a good day for challengers – not just here in Auckland, but around the country.
There is a mandate for change. It is my job to lead it in Auckland.
Throughout the region, you have chosen a new governing body to represent each of your communities. I will work in good faith with all of them. I want to empower councillors and council committees to have more meaningful roles than they've ever had before, with the power to make real decisions for which they will be directly accountable to you.
Similarly, you have elected new Local Boards. Being closest to you and your communities, I plan to devolve more decision-making powers to them.
My key mayoral pledge was to bring the Council-Controlled Organisations (CCOs) back under control.
My most immediate priority is Auckland Transport (AT). There is no council agency which is so important to Aucklanders, or one about which you are angrier. I think the board of directors should heed the message from the election and offer to resign. Boards of directors at some other CCOs need also to consider their positions.
Be assured, I oppose Three Waters. Watercare isn't going anywhere. But there is a clear mandate to finally resolve the question of the port.
Tomorrow morning, senior council officers will brief me on the council's books, their economic forecasts over the next three years, and all contingent liabilities and other risks.
That includes not just the council itself, but also the CCOs and all the other entities in which ratepayers have an interest.
Just this week, we've seen PwC investigators arrive at Eke Panuku, and AT own up to massive and unexpected disruptions to our rail and wider public transport network for at least two years. No-one will say how much the City Rail Link (CRL) will cost or when it will be running, or the true cost of the port's failed automation project, which it initially said involved only a $65 million write-off.
During the campaign, I refused to make rash promises over rates until we know the state of the books, including the CRL and port debacles. We should not plan to increase rates.
We should cut costs, seek efficiencies, stop or defer some lower-value projects and require council officers to deliver tangible outcomes for the money that they spend.
But, as soon as possible, we will level with you about any rate increases that might be ahead. There will be no sudden shocks to your family budgets under my leadership.
After my economic and financial briefing tomorrow, I will spend most of the rest of the week meeting one-on-one with each of the councillors you have elected, to hear their priorities for your wards and the wider region.
I am not in a rush about how we will structure all our committees and who will do what.
You have demanded change, and so we will be starting from a blank slate.
Every councillor and every member of the Independent Māori Statutory Board needs roles that interest and challenge them – and through which they can best help deliver the change you demand. It is our job to build a functioning team, free of political labels, and focused on fixing Auckland.
I look forward also to meeting Efeso Collins – a tough opponent and committed Aucklander whom I now count as a friend – to discuss with him how he would like best to serve the people of Tāmaki Makaurau.
For today? Well, I think I owe my wife and family a big, long brunch along K Road, maybe followed by a quick trip to Piha this afternoon. Then, on Monday at 8am, I start the new job that I am so humbled you have entrusted to me. Thank you for your support. I won't let you down.
Best wishes,
Wayne Brown.
Three of the whales succumbed on the shore.