Vic Crone
Candidate for Mayor of Auckland
4 May 2016
Speech to Committee for Auckland

Building a world class Auckland

Tamaki Makaurau, the isthmus of one thousand lovers, emerged after a fierce battle of incantations, that created fertile soils and abundant resources, that people have been drawn to for centuries. The narrow isthmus provided access to seas, both east and west, where hundreds of wakas would come and go from across the country in the name of trade. With plenty of kai moana and fertile soils for agriculture, it’s no wonder people have been attracted to Auckland for many centuries.

Today, instead of wakas, we see hundreds of boats scattered around our harbours. There is no doubt we continue to be a city in demand, in fact we’re now the third most multicultural city in the world. Our kai is simply outstanding and 1.5 million people enjoy our coastlines, east and west.

There’s change afoot in Auckland, we can all see it. We’re excited by the idea of realising our potential as a truly great cosmopolitan city. There’s a hint of pride as we’ve come of age having earned a ticket to play in the city big league, a buzz and an appetite to share our wonderful city with so many global citizens. Auckland attraction remains strong.

We’re also experiencing the downside of being so damn attractive! The model we put in place to help us take advantage of growth, has struggled to keep up. We swap stories on what is literally, for some, the nightmare of getting to work and around our city. We’re now fourth equal in a list of the least affordable cities in the world, with the median priced home nearly ten times the median household income. And instead of a united Super City, we see vast groups feeling left out and a broader Auckland community who don’t feel connected to the very people who lead and serve them. The harsh fact, just 13% of Aucklanders trust our Council.

A strong fiscal foundation

We can’t hope to reach our potential unless we reflect on the first five years of the Super City structure. There was so much hope for it to reduce waste, bureaucracy, staff and to create a more efficient, connected city.

A recent KPMG report revealed that since amalgamation 5 years ago we’ve seen:
• An almost 50% increase in rates
• An almost 40% increase in costs
• An almost 33% increase in staff numbers and 50% increase in employee costs from the base number agreed at the time of amalgamation.
And we are now facing an infrastructure investment deficit from decades of underspend. Hence 37% of capital investment in the ten year plan is purely for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. We’re looking at a complex Governance organisation with hundreds of individuals- Councillors, Local Board Members, CCO Board members, and advisory panels. This is alongside revenue of $3.5 billion, over 11,000 staff and a capital spend of $18.5 billion over the next 10 years. On the horizon there are still significant investment priorities not easily fixed in housing, transport and water.

Last week I announced my first set of policies - strong, fiscally responsible steps to get the basics right at Council. They addressed keeping rates as low as possible, cutting wasteful spending, reducing staff costs, and paying down debt faster. This isn’t rocket science but they are areas where Council needs to lift its performance. We do need to demonstrate fiscal responsibility in order to earn the confidence of the community that we are spending their money wisely.

Building a team in Council is crucial, I have been a collaborative and motivated leader in business and we need that same approach from the next Mayor. As an independent candidate in this race, with a background of working with politicians of all stripes in business, I will work hard to find common ground with everyone in Council to deliver results for Aucklanders.

I’ve really been looking forward to this speech, to share with you my vision for Auckland. I’m not a politician so I’m not here to announce one big-ticket headline policy. In the course of the campaign, I will be releasing more policies, with emphasis on transport and housing.

Today I want to guide you through my thinking and the way we need to start looking at our challenges.

We desperately need an injection of fresh ideas and a strong leader to champion them. We also need a leader who can build trust and support within the community to take us where we need to get to - that’s why I’m excited about running to be Auckland’s next Mayor.

Globally, cities are increasingly recognised as the growth engines of the world. That’s because people are rushing to urban centres, driven by a desire for a better life - for education and opportunity and for those of us who are luckier, add lifestyle and entertainment. McKinsey estimates that globally the population of cities will grow by 179,000 people every day over the next 10 years. Auckland’s population will increase by another 750,000 people in the next twenty to thirty years. To put that in perspective that is around half the growth of London.

As a mum of two, a passionate New Zealander and a proud Aucklander, I have higher aspirations for our city. We shouldn’t be here for just a better Auckland, or just a liveable Auckland, we’re all here because we want Auckland to reach its full potential.

My vision is for a world class Auckland.

As Mayor I will put my energy, drive and fresh ideas into building a world class city for all of our families and our communities.

This will require three key focuses - we need to be smart, we need to be inclusive and we need to be competitive.

A smart future focused city

Let’s start with a smart, future focused city.

A smart city is one that embraces new technologies and innovations to deliver services better, harvest real-time data, reduce costs and continually refine performance. Smart is about being future-focused with a view to being sustainable both financially and environmentally.

As Managing Director of Xero I had responsibility for New Zealand and 180 countries around the world, I had a window into some impressive steps cities are starting to take. India has announced 20 cities targeted to become smart cities and the rest of Asia is expected to play a lead role in smart city development in the years ahead. They will leapfrog today’s set up. These cities are setting ambitious targets around getting there, we’re struggling to even have the conversations, in instances choosing the safety of keeping the door shut.

I’m not talking flying saucers and ‘beam me up Scotty’. But I am talking about Auckland needing to be serious about technologies that are going to change the types of infrastructure and investment we will need, a light rail project now could very easily be outdated and problematic in 20-30 years. The leader of our city needs to look ahead when it comes to such significant investments and that is what I will do.

What role can technology play in developing an integrated world class transport network for Auckland?

Traffic congestion is one of the worst side effects of a growing city and it has adverse affects on productivity, health and pollution.

Auckland does have a heavy reliance on cars, due to our history, geography of the isthmus and state of our transport network. You can actually see it in the numbers. In Waitemata, 25% of households don’t own a vehicle while only 30% have access to two or more cars. However in Franklin and Rodney, it’s a completely different picture - with 70% of homes having two or more cars. Logically, this makes sense, it’s just that people in Franklin and Rodney also have a need to get to the city and travel through the isthmus.

It will be my mission as Mayor to ensure we start delivering a smart transport network that is customer focused and sets key performance indicators for reducing congestion.

It’s important we are open to new ways of solving problems associated with congestion, whether that’s autonomous vehicles, smart bike sharing programmes or flexible working, to list only a few.

Singapore has recently announced that they’re exploring autonomous minibuses, available on demand for commuters, to close the last mile gap between transport hubs and homes. If we think about how that sort of technology could be used in Auckland - take the Park in Rides along the Northern Busway, the carparks are full by 7am. It’s a great problem to have because it means there is high demand for that part of our public transport system. But they’ve been in demand for a few years now and we have not responded and acted to meet this demand well-enough. For many commuters after 7am the search for a carpark often means they might as well just stay in their car. So what if an on-demand, autonomous mini-shuttle service could feed people from their doorsteps to the Park-in-Ride and back. That takes cars off the road, increases patronage of public transport, and has a view to seamless integration of our network.

Even Uber, the global ride-sharing company, identified how their services complemented existing transit systems in Portland, Oregon by studying their ride maps. So if you’re on the fence about autonomous vehicles helping close some of the gaps in our transport network, let’s look at Uber. They too could play a role in feeding our hubs. In some cities, Uber has partnered with local transport smartphone applications and used their open API software so you can request your Uber before your bus even gets to its stop. Then there is UberPOOL. The list of opportunities is growing. These are not big multi-billion dollar price tag projects, they are smart, sensible solutions for integration that are already in action around the world.

Council does not have a monopoly on good ideas for transport, and we need to inject fresh thinking immediately. That is why I will lay the groundwork for Council and Auckland Transport to begin partnering with major technology companies such as Google, Uber, and Tesla, to leverage their strengths and share data to support the delivery of a smarter, more sustainable and integrated Auckland.

In business the smartest decision making often happens with access to good data. One of the ways that smart cities are looking to reduce congestion, is to simply collect more data and crunch it. This can involve CCTV, traffic signal, flow of traffic data alongside other data, acquired through partnerships, to provide a rich view of where problems are. The biggest benefit is that when good data drives decisions we save money, because we can make targeted investments with less guesswork.

While investment in public transport and roads is fundamental, and there are a number of existing projects in the pipeline, I’m focused on how we can keep up that investment and be smarter going forwards.

For example, I do think we need to find a better way of moving more people to and from Auckland Airport. One option floated is rail, including light rail, from Onehunga to the airport, to be developed between 2025 and 2045 and it is estimated to cost up to $3.2 billion. Is light rail the answer here? As leaders we have to think ahead, 30 years from now things will be different. After all, who could imagine 30 years ago that mobile devices would occupy so much of our lives, for everything.

We risk staying on the cusp of transport solutions of the past 100 years and miss out on technologies that will redefine the transport solutions of the next 100 years.

The other thing I love about new technology is the intersection of economics, experience and sustainability. A very simple piece of tech is actually a sensor. The economics of sensors are so good now cities are literally putting them everywhere, from monitoring water quality, air quality and anything else that makes sense to measure in real time.

In New York City sensors in basins in restaurants are used to more easily identify who’s illegally dumping grease into the water network. In site visits where sensors are installed, inspectors were right 95% of the time, leading to better time management, fewer clogged basins and more revenue from collection of fines. And of course, preserving water quality.

We know there are Kiwis ready and willing to invest and contribute in a smart future focused Auckland, let’s embrace them alongside our international reputation as a test lab and get piloting these technologies to see how they can improve our city, but also take the pressure off investment.

An inclusive city

My second focus is for a more inclusive city.

Where families thrive, where everyone feels part of our city and involved in the important decisions for its future. It also needs to be a safe place to live, where communities are more connected with a diverse range of opportunities for work and play.

With half a million Aucklanders born overseas, naturally there’s a lot of talk about our growth in the context of immigration and diversity. As I said on average, 179,000 people globally are moving into cities every day around the world, be rest assured we don’t face these challenges alone. Simply put, cities that can’t attract and keep talent and migrants, shrink. People vote with their feet. While growth presents many challenges, it’s the problem I’d rather be facing. Migrants should be treated as an asset, not as a cost.

I read with interest this morning a letter to the Herald from a 17 year old Chinese New Zealander who grew up here. She writes “I am proud that I have grown up in the New Zealand schooling system. I am proud of my parents who worked day and night to give me the life I have now. I hope to contribute to society as much as I can when I can. However, just recently, I no longer feel I am welcome in the country I have lived in for my whole life. I am viewed daily as ‘just another foreigner’ who is here to take houses away from local New Zealanders”.

This level of prejudice is not healthy, political leaders should not create further divisions through blatant stereotyping. We need strong, inclusive leadership to address these issues and unify Aucklanders.

Inclusiveness is not confined to new migrants feeling a part of Auckland. Having spoken to many Aucklanders, I’ve had countless conversations where communities in more geographically isolated parts of Auckland don’t feel part of our Super City. One expression of this is the Northern Action Group in Rodney. I get why they’re frustrated, they pay rates like the rest of us, they deserve to feel part of Auckland and for their communities to enjoy services like others do closer to the city. Let’s talk about Matakana for example. The effort and time it’s taken for that community to get Council to understand and act on something as simple as footpaths and a crossing, so kids can walk safely across a rather busy road to school. This is simple and important stuff we need to get right.

Another important theme is community identity. In fact our local identities are much stronger than our identity as a Super City. Pukekohe is proud of its agricultural roots with a desire to keep them strong as they grow, or in Manukau, the world’s Pasifika hub and a vibrant family friendly city. I believe in putting decision making closer to those who understand it the most. That means we will need to review the level of accountability and responsibility of Local Boards, after all they are the eyes, ears and voices of our communities.

The other end of the inclusion spectrum is housing affordability. I want all young Aucklanders to have and be able to fulfil that dream of owning their own home. House prices are rising steeply, supply is not meeting demand, and everyday more people are left out of the market.

Facing immense population growth over the next 30 years we must go up and out. I support intensification. You only need to look around the world to see that as much as intensification is a solution to the supply issues we face, it is also a necessity with projected growth.

I also believe that Aucklanders support intensification, but there are anxieties, they are anxious to know what their communities would look like, what public transport will be, with schools that are already full they want to know if more are on the way, and what about hospitals, and so on. These are understandable concerns. It’s why we need to take communities with us more carefully on these decisions and include them honestly.

As Mayor, I will be an advocate and a leader for the up and out approach to planning for housing. I will support well-designed intensification with accompanying facilities and infrastructure. We're talking homes. Ones that add social and physical value to neighbourhoods rather than just more dwellings.

We also know that when you go from needing 3,000 homes a year to 13,000, it’s not surprising that doing everything in the same way isn’t yielding the results we need.

In different roles across Telecom, Chorus and Xero I have seen rapid growth - from a few thousand new connections a month, to tens of thousands. We had to completely reengineer as much of that supply chain is possible to deliver results efficiently.

There are two points on the housing supply chain where I think we need to draw attention to. Firstly, you have the consenting process trying to deal with a massive acceleration in demand. It’s certainly not the most innovative process and it certainly isn’t efficient for either side. Secondly, we have a market where the most profitable home is a four bedroom one, and when you put it on a half a million dollar piece of land, it’s no wonder we are turning out more homes that hit the million dollar mark.

As Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston said, “listen to the neighbourhoods”. And that’s indeed what we must do with housing. We need to power up Councillors and Local Boards to work in partnership with their communities and Government on a rapid growth development plan for housing, letting communities play a bigger role in shaping their futures and retaining control over their unique identities. Putting stronger markers in the ground around the breadth of housing required for both affordability and to meet an aging population, we can then work with the supply chain to ensure they are producing homes that meet all our needs. The Tamaki Regeneration project is good example of the new standard in development that Auckland needs to pursue.

A competitive city

And finally, we have to grow a city that is and remains competitive on the world stage. We already have a lot of the right ingredients but we must push ahead with pace.

Auckland accounts for 35% of New Zealand’s GDP, with our GDP growing at around 3% per annum. Every 1% of additional growth creates 10,000 more jobs and adds $18 billion to GDP, enabling even more investment.

While Auckland’s GDP per capita is higher than other parts of New Zealand, it is well below many other first world cities, in fact we are ranked 69th out of 85 cities in the OECD.

Here’s the reality, cities are growing a lot faster all over the world, there are already 400 cities of one million people or more, we are competing with them for business, talent and reputation.

I want to lead an Auckland that is attracting and powering up business and talent, that has a vibrant social fabric and is constantly offering new experiences and opportunities to further learning.

Council can’t do that alone - no council can. It’s our job to help create the environment, and build capacity not just in our businesses but out in our communities. That’s part of what makes a competitive city, one with strong and resilient communities. We need to strengthen the capacity of our communities and provide them with the tools to lead and deliver some essential solutions - because who knows communities better than communities themselves.

It’s the same thing with businesses. I would like to lead a council that develops more partnerships with the business community, not shuts them out. I hate to think how many ‘investment wakas’ we’ve missed because we are being bureaucratic and “typical council” - slow and difficult.

Strong and smart partnerships help us achieve what we need to faster, with better outcomes for residents, and without the attack on people’s wallets. We will need to overhaul Council’s procurement policy to support a stronger mantra of partnership for outcomes with private, government and social enterprise.

Let’s turn to our Port.

A growing, competitive city needs a world class port. Ports are a critical piece of infrastructure for any major city, but we now need to be posing the question of what a world class port for Auckland looks like in 50-100 years time?

As we answer this question, it’s easy to understand that the Port in its current location is obsolete. It will not be able to keep up with the growth rate of our city in the next 50 years, unless it expands further into the harbour. The community has spoken loudly and clearly.

Additionally, the economic value of the 77 hectares of the Port land is severely under-utilised when comparing Port dividends with the economic return of similar land in the Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Quarter precincts. By 2040 the Wynyard Quarter waterfront redevelopment is expected to contribute $4.3 billion to Auckland. The Auckland Port dividend of around $50 million pales in comparison. The Port has served Auckland well for over 150 years, and at one time played an important role in the development and evolution of the broader Auckland waterfront.

As Mayor, I will commit to leading a robust decision-making process to seek out a new home and transition our Port there.

Auckland would not be alone, cities like Seattle are doing this right now over a 40 year period.

Once the Council has taken these decisions we can turn ourselves to the conversation of the exciting possibilities of what we could do to transform the largest piece of land on our waterfront, not just economically but also socially.

Strong leadership that keeps us ahead

We are proud Aucklanders. We all love this city and we all want it to reach its potential.

We also know that to keep ahead of all these trends, we have to embrace the opportunities of a smart, future-focused city, we can and should grow a more inclusive city, and we must be competitive because we are the gateway for New Zealand to the world and for the world to New Zealand.

Think about the kind of leadership needed for Auckland to keep up with these dynamic trends, but also to get ahead of them and make sure they are working for the benefit of all Aucklanders.

We can be more than just a liveable city, we can be more than a “better” city, it’s time we get the basics right, look ahead with confidence and build a world class city.

Thank you.

ENDS

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