“An Opportunity for a Greater Auckland”

Speech Embargoed until 10.50am Friday 12th February
Howick Probus Club
St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Vincent Street, Howick

(NOTE: This is a reference only, actual speech may differ)

E nga mana,
E nga reo,
Kia a koutou katoa o nga hau e wha,
Tena koutou katoa.

Distinguished guests, Council Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,
Greetings to you all.

I want to work with anyone who shares my aspirations for a Greater Auckland. I promise you now, I will listen and I want to be part of your community. What do I mean by a “Greater Auckland”? It is about making this city one of opportunity, prosperity and security or your children and mine, and our grandchildren will leave and not come home.

I want to visit my grandchildren in Auckland, not Brisbane or London. My daughter Natalia wants to return to her homeland of Russia to work as a nurse. That is great but I want her to come home again not to stay in Saint Petersburg or then go onto London and I am sure there are many other parents and grandparents who feel the same way. How do we change that? Well through jobs, economic growth and by building aspiration.

I am on the side of Heni, a lovely Maori woman I met who drives a 44 tonne truck on the Mangere Bridge Duplication Project to support her 14 mokopuna or grandchildren What a great woman, driven and ambitious.

I am on the side of those two and a half thousand people who stood outside a supermarket in South Auckland hoping to grab one of the hundred and fifty jobs on offer. Therefore, I am developing a Jobs Plan to boost employment throughout the region.

The Counties Manukau District health Board wants to train young Maori and Pacific Islanders from South Auckland to work in Middlemore Hospital, but they cannot because of bureaucracy. This has to be changed if we ever want to be a real Greater Auckland. I believe I have the experience, drive and passion to do this.

People have said to me, “Banksie you’re in for a tough race.” And make no mistake, it will be. But that is what the citizens of Greater Auckland deserve. You will decide whom you want to work with and that means this should be a tight race. I have been in public life for 33 years. This Mayoral race will be my 13th election. That maybe unlucky for some but it will not be for me.

I want to say here to you the Howick Probus Club and to the people of Auckland. Throughout my days as a Member of Parliament, a Minister of the Crown, a Businessman, a Mayor, a Father, I have made mistakes and I will continue to make some mistakes. However, I can promise you I do not often make the same mistake twice. What is important is to learn from those experiences. Throughout my life, I have been learning that way. I come out of struggle street, where I was forced to learn how to be careful with money, especially when you do not have any.

I have a lot of experience in business, dealing with and investing large amounts of money, other people’s money and this makes me careful. Therefore, if a Greater Auckland Council thinks about using your money in the future, I promise you I will treat your money with the greatest respect and be very careful with it.

Yes, I want a business plan for Eden Park before we underwrite 44 million dollars. Who would give a multi-million dollar loan of your money without knowing if it can be paid back? The Mayor of South Auckland says “Just give it to them Banksie.” I say NO; show me you can pay it back.

This week my opponent committed to spending about a hundred and fifty million dollars, ratepayer dollars, your dollars on two projects – Queens Wharf and Eden Park, for a 6 week long rugby tournament next year. Is that what he thinks is a good use of ratepayer money? Although I note yesterday your current Mayor has changed his mind, again on Queens Wharf and now he agrees with me!

Friends, everyone knows my position on Queens Wharf, I do not think what the Government wants to do is the right thing and I have consistently said this. It is now up to you to voice your opinion to those making the decision in Wellington. It will be your opposition that could halt some rushed project from being built on such a stunning site, that you will pay for in the end.

I would rather see a proper master plan for the whole Waterfront because our harbours, including the Manukau, our coasts and beaches are what make Greater Auckland truly unique and they must be looked after.

A Greater Auckland will need much more investment in infrastructure. I would rather hard-working folks’ savings be invested in bonds, not building Paraitai Drive mansions for developers.

A recent poll suggested almost half of Aucklanders do not think they will be able to trust the new Super City, but it is going to happen and we have to make it work for all of us. Make no mistake there will not be a Greater Auckland without the people of Howick, South Auckland, Rodney, Franklin and their rural communities.

We need to make all people, all communities feel a part of a Greater Auckland, and I am committed to making this happen. I am committed to empowering local communities and preserving their character and uniqueness, making sure your voice can be heard on the issues that matter to you in your neighborhood. This includes our built and natural heritage; our harbors and beaches; the Waitakere ranges and the volcanic cones all need preservation.

I have no intention of letting decisions about what happens in Greater Auckland be hijacked by Wellington. I have a message for you, but more so for the Government. I am here for the citizens of Greater Auckland, not the Government, and it is your concerns that I will look after.

The best part though is I have been there. A Member of Parliament, a Cabinet Minister, I know how the machinery of Wellington works and how best that can be harnessed to work for a Greater Auckland. I am a former Local Government Minister; I am also a former Police Minister. I want shopkeepers in Manurewa spending their money on signs to get customers into their businesses, not on steel roller doors to keep others out. I want an Auckland that when a father leaves his wife and children at home for work, they will know he will be coming home. Sadly, we see all too often examples where this does not happen.

So what will I do? Well for a start, in Auckland City we are already helping fund CCTV and other initiatives to make our streets safer and more attractive, as Mayor of a Greater Auckland I would seek to roll out similar facilities across the region.

Some will try to tell you that there is less crime in Manukau than in other parts of the City. That is simply not true. What he does not say is that violent crimes are 50% higher in Manukau than Auckland City and sex crimes are 25% higher, that is not good enough.

Friends, we are at a crossroads, this greater city is at a crossroads but in the doom and gloom of talk about debt and recession, we have an opportunity, a great opportunity to make Auckland great. Your city, our city, one Greater Auckland.

The new Auckland is here, we can either sit back and disagree about it or we can grab the opportunity to make it work. That is your decision and I want to be a part of it. I want to be your voice as the first Mayor of a Greater Auckland.

This region from Wellsford to Waiuku, Piha to Papakura, Henderson to Howick and everywhere else in between has the potential if united and led with consistent, decisive leadership, passion and drive to be a world-class city.

My ambition is to make Auckland the best city in the world as I promised my daughter, and that is the promise I make to you and your family. A Greater Auckland, where they can see a safe and prosperous future for themselves.

There is going to be an Auckland Council we have to make it work for the sake of all those who call Auckland home and for the sake of this wonderful nation.

ENDS

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