A new mayor for Auckland: Having the answers
Weekly Update
Len Brown and Phil Goff are similar. Both have no large, private sector experience. Both have never directly run complex
organisations. In addition Phil has no experience of local government or Auckland Council. Fear not, help is at hand You
can ‘check me out” on our latest video here.
In the latest Auckland mayoral debate this week, I challenged Labour MP Phil Goff on his answer to a question about
housing support for the homeless. He was sympathetic and of course criticised the government – but had no solutions. The
NZ Herald picked this story up and highlighted that with all his central government experience, including being a
Minister of Housing, he has no plan to solve Auckland’s housing…
The NZ Herald published my fourth opinion piece this week on how I will respond as Mayor to the recent “Consensus” Port
Future Study report. The report does provide a view on future options, but it’s really not a consensus view. The Port of
Tauranga, New Zealand’s largest export port, wasn’t directly involved for example and they contest some of the
information (as they would you might say). This report…
The just released Government response to the Rules Reduction Taskforce I served on confirms our report will be a
terrific template for me if I’m elected Mayor of Auckland. The Government has agreed with a key recommendation I wrote
that we need to improve customer service within local and central government. The Fairfax story is here. The Taskforce
was established by the government to solve people’s frustrations with local rules…
The NZ Herald has covered my comments on Auckland Transport’s recent decision to abandon a heavy rail option to the
airport in response to Councillor Mike Lee’s advertising his objection. I said that it’s nuts that we don’t have a
modern, fast way of getting to the airport and it’s taken too long to resolve. AT reports that light rail would cost $1
billion more than heavy but actually both…
ends