Sealing roads in Rodney, embracing people with different sexualities and doing more with less were among the themes in maiden speeches from five new Auckland councillors today. And it wasn't all and policies and vision. Efeso Collins and Desley Simpson were close to tears as they spoke about the importance of family in their journey to the council table.
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Here are extracts from the five new faces on council.
Auckland is the place where ideas, voices, cultures and ways of living can be quite beautifully interwoven.
We have much to learn from each other and in order to do so we must draw from a personal and spiritual well with humility, compassion, respect and care.
On these fundamental tenets on a genuine commitment to humanity will we build a caring society, reducing the divide between young and old, decile 1 and decile 10 schools, while collar and blue collar, left and right.
(Manukau) is the ward with one of the lowest rates of home ownership in the country and an increase in the level of homelessness.
Auckland's accidental millionaires club has yet to reach the people of Manukau.
Today hundreds of kids in my ward went to school hungry. Hundreds of our kids slept in cold garages and cars and hundreds of families take the little they have, forced to decide between paying for food, power or rent.
It is for these constituents, the people I sit besides in church every Sunday, shop with at Hunters Corner, barter with at the Mangere markets... it is them that I stand for today.
Three months ago I had no plans to stand for council, so I must also thank George Wood not only for his contribution as a councillor but for announcing he was standing down, which led to many calls and messages encouraging me to stand.
I'm committed to working for better, more efficient public transport, Shore rail, more safe cycling and walking connections including SkyPath... putting more effort into youth engagement and initiatives and making sure council is seen in a more positive light with increased community input.
Young people are just people that happen to be younger than us. They have hopes and dreams, they have a lot more experience than we give them credit for, they love living here too, so let's respect their ideas and thoughts and plan a city with them for their future not just short term fixes for today.
Let's embrace and include people from different backgrounds, different cultures, with different sexualities and gender identities.
I want the third term of Auckland Council to be one of real progress for our city.
We've had two terms of getting used to the Super City model. It's now time to make it really work.
If we are to lift council's tragic public satisfaction rate and get this Super City working we have to work more effectively as a team. And that starts around this table.
Auckland has a shared governance model and there is a lot we can learn from our colleagues on local boards.
It is no secret that under previous council leadership, local boards have not been given the mana, respect or funding they deserve.
Everything regional is local and we can't forget that. We need to fund them more, not less.
Our communities have seen higher rates and lower service levels. Loud and clear throughout this recent election we have heard that people want us to be smarter with their money, doing more with less.
I hope to use my incumbency to promote more young people, more women, more Maori, Pasifika and ethnic New Zealanders, and support their promotion to elected public office on merit.
I hope this term will see a transition to a workable and credible system of political leadership around this table, as well as co-governance with the local boards.
We should not be scared of the co-governance model - it is the means to drive public confidence and restore trust.
One of the greatest challenges facing my community is the plight of so many of our Year 9 cohort who are unable to cope with secondary curriculum because of insufficient standards of literacy and numeracy.
I believe our mandate to be clear. Council must live within its financial means. This means we must stop the wastage and overspending.
If rate adjustments are to be kept low, making significant cost savings and gains in productivity are two of the vital levers towards achieving this goal.
Rodney was at the epicentre of the 17 per cent mistrust and confidence rating of Auckland Council. Of all the wards across Auckland, Rodney residents had the least favourable view of council.
Dust and particles generated from unsealed roads were classified by the World Health Organisation as carcinogenic earlier this year.
We have no choice but to crack on and seal the most hazardous dust-producing roads under our health and safety obligations.
This will come at a regional seal extensions investment of $10 million a year for the next 10 years.
'It’s been a tough year and now we feel like we can breathe.'