Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has outlined his approach to leadership at today’s Auckland Council symposium for elected members.
He repeated his warning that “Aucklanders are sailing into an economic and fiscal storm” with wages yet to catch up with endemic inflation.
With nearly 50 per cent of mortgage holders across the country soon to come off fixed mortgages and move to interest rates starting with a two to ones starting with a seven, Mr Brown said “Aucklanders don’t need council rates increases to add to the agony”.
“We must do whatever we can to avoid or at least minimise those rates increases, to reduce the pressure on young and lower-income homeowners, who can least afford it,” he said.
Mr Brown also emphasised his commitment to real decisions being made by council committees and by the Local Boards that are closest to the communities that are affected by them.
“I do not want everyone just making recommendations upwards, downwards and sideways – generating thousands of pages of unread reports,” he said.
“I want every council committee to have clear decision-making powers, with decisions passed upwards only when required by law or in exceptional circumstances, when big strategic calls or financial decisions demand it.
“Be warned, of course, the committee members, including those from the Independent Māori Statutory Board, will then carry the associated political and legal accountability.”
Mr Brown acknowledged some progress has been made by the previous council to empower Local Boards but argued “We need to go further and faster”.
Ideally, he said, he would like Local Boards, through the coming budget process:
- to be given clear capped budgets for their communities;
- have the sole power to decide how to spend it; and
- have the sole political and legal accountability over the funds and decisions.
For Council-Control Organisations and other agencies, Mr Brown said his Letters of Expectation, planned for December “will be much more specific than has been the practice over the last six years”.
A team in his office would work on them and he wanted all councillors and Local Board members to be involved, “feeding in your ideas, and making sure the Letters of Expectation have real grunt”.
When the CCOs come back with their draft Statements of Corporate Intent for the governing body to review, amend and approve, “they had better include real, meaningful, measurable outcomes, rather than platitudes,” Mr Brown said.
“Aucklanders aren’t interested in bland statements about improving the bus service,” he said. “They demand clear measurable targets about the minimum acceptable percentage of buses arriving on time, and the minimum acceptable average patronage. Let’s work on that type of thing together.”
The full text of Mr Brown’s speech is as follows:
Congratulations on being elected, to represent your ward, or Local Board community, within our great city, and our beautiful wider region.
We all have a mandate, to represent our communities, and deliver on our promises.
Let’s all help one another to do so.
I was elected mayor by the same people who elected you. Our interests are aligned, and with those who put us here.
The Prime Minister had a team of five million for Covid.
Aucklanders expect a team for Auckland of all 179 of us – the mayor and governing body, the 21 local boards and the Independent Māori Statutory Board.
Some of you have been elected on teams associated with parliamentary parties, but there is no place for party politics here.
Those things are for Wellington.
We are all Aucklanders, elected by the same people, from our many diverse geographic and cultural communities.
We should work to be one team.
My role as mayor is:
- to articulate, and promote, a vision for Auckland;
- to provide leadership, for the purpose of achieving objectives, that will contribute to that vision;
- to lead the development of Council plans, policies and budgets, for consideration by the governing body; and
- to ensure there is effective engagement, between the Auckland Council, and the people of Auckland.
The vision I was elected on is, like me, pretty down-to-earth and practical.
- My vision is for change – particularly in the sense that we should focus, first, on delivering what is underway, before getting distracted by the next grand scheme.
- My vision is to reduce congestion on the roads, and improve transport services overall.
- My vision is to make the Council and its agencies, most particularly Auckland Transport and the port, to understand their role as the servants of the people of Auckland, not the other way around.
- My vision is to get local people, through Local Boards, making more decisions about their local communities – rather than having them imposed by the governing body, the mayor, council officers or, worst of all, unelected and unaccountable CCO
- My vision is to achieve much better value for money – especially in central administration and getting a true economic return from our assets, including the port land – without any cuts to the services Aucklanders value and need.
I will continue to articulate and promote this vision, around the council table, in public and behind closed doors.
I count on your support for it, and for the plans, policies and budgets to make it real.
In particular, right now, your support is needed to achieve greater value for money, to keep rates low.
My mantra is “less is more”.
Aucklanders are sailing into an economic and fiscal storm.
Inflation is now endemic.
Wages haven’t yet caught up.
Interest rates are set to at least triple from where they were a year ago.
Nearly 50% of mortgage holders across the country are soon to come off fixed mortgages – they’ll move from interest rates starting with a “2” to ones starting with a "7”.
This is huge pressure, that doesn’t need council rates increases to add to the agony.
We must do whatever we can to avoid or at least minimise those rates increases –to reduce the pressure on young and lower-income home-owners, who can least afford it.
My mantra of “less is more” means we need to do more with less – more services for less money overall.
“Less is more” applies also about how I want to lead, and how I believe we should govern Auckland together, as a team.
I want fewer meetings, and shorter meetings, but more decisions.
I want less paperwork, but more analysis and choices for decision-makers, and to know we’ve all read it all before we decide.
Over the last three months before the election, the governing body was given 12,475 pages of reading by council officers – which is ridiculous.
That’s ten times as long as War and Peace– and not many people have got through that in less than three months.
I don’t believe any member of the governing body would have come close to reading it all. No one could.
And spare a thought for the council officers who had to write it all – deep down knowing their work was never going to be read properly.
I have asked the council chief executive to put a strict limit on the length of council papers.
In return, I have promised the chief executive that we will read them all carefully before we make decisions.
And, to the council officers who have to write them, it is the same deal: give us real, clear, pithy, well-thought-out advice, and your work will be worthwhile – it will be read fully and carefully, by all of us, before decisions are made.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jim and all the council’s officers for your work and commitment to Auckland. We value what you do.
Last week, the Prime Minister has agreed to discussions between senior ministers and the governing body on the five immediate priorities I raised with her last week – including updating the Auckland Council legislation, based on the lessons of the last 12 years.
My two personal priorities for the legislation update, based on my mandate, will be:
- To bring the CCOs and other agencies back under control: both greater democratic control, by all of us; and greater accountability against much clearer and more specific performance measures – environmental, social, cultural, economic and financial.
- To ensure decisions are being made closest to the communities that are affected by them: what Wellington calls devolution, what the European Union calls subsidiarity, and what I call good old common sense and business practice.
The two priorities are related. And, as far as the existing legislation allows, I want to start working that way right now.
In December, I’ll be sending my Letters of Expectation to the CCOs and other agencies.
Mine will be much more specific than has been the practice over the last six years.
There will be a team in my office to work on them, and I want you all involved – feeding in your ideas, and making sure they have real grunt.
Then the CCOs will come back with their draft Statements of Corporate Intent for the governing body to review, amend and approve.
They had better include real, meaningful, measurable outcomes, rather than platitudes.
Aucklanders aren’t interested bland statements about improving the bus service.
They demand clear measurable targets about the minimum acceptable percentage of buses arriving on time, and the minimum acceptable average patronage.
Let’s work on that type of thing together.
More generally, my vision is for all of us – every councillor, every Local Board member, every member of the Independent Māori Statutory Board, and me – to have roles that truly interest and challenge us, with clear decision-making powers, with the associated political accountability.
I do not want everyone just making recommendations upwards, downwards and sideways – generating the thousands of pages of unread reports I spoke of.
I want every council committee to have clear decision-making powers, with decisions passed upwards only when required by law or in exceptional circumstances, when big strategic calls or financial decisions demand it.
Be warned, of course, the committee members, including those from the Independent Māori Statutory Board, will then carry the associated political and legal accountability.
You might even find the mayor saying I support the committee’s right to make the decision, even if I don’t agree with it.
I would like all of us, and Aucklanders, and the media, to get used to that. To be a team of 179, we don’t all have to be on every committee, or speak on every item.
Let those with genuine interest and expertise in an area be the ones to focus on it – and be accountable for it.
For Local Boards, through the coming budget process, ideally I would like to see you:
- be given clear capped budgets for your communities;
- have the sole power to decide how to spend it; and
- have the sole political and legal accountability if you run out of your annual budget in 11 months.
Some progress has been made by the last council – but we need to go further and faster.
Local boards should decide things like whether your shopping villages are to keep, lose or expand your carparks – not Auckland Transport.
It’s not about you just making recommendations. It is about you deciding – and being applauded or criticised accordingly.
Some of the officers and some of the media might say we can’t trust our Local Boards with real power and real money.
I say let’s try it, before we decide how much we need to change the legislation.
After all, as I read the current law, “decision-making responsibility for a non-regulatory activity of the Auckland Council should be exercised by its local boards unless” there’s a very good reason why not.
Let’s apply that law first, before we decide we need to change it.
Relatedly, I want to see councillors and Local Board members out there, in public, advocating for your communities, for what you promised on the campaign trail, and for what you are doing to deliver.
I’m not going to get in your way.
I saw Councillor Lee, in the media, making his case for cheaper and less disruptive approach to cycleways in his ward.
I don’t yet know what the Waitematā Local Board thinks about it all, or the community.
My message to you, on issues like that, is this:
- Have the debate. Don’t be afraid of the debate.
- Involve the whole community, not just the same old people who show up to consultation meetings. Don’t be afraid of the people who put us here.
- Make local government meaningful for local people. Disagreement in public is not a sign of failure. It is a sign local engagement is happening, and working.
Over the next three years, let’s try to help, each one of us here today, deliver what we promised to our communities.
And let’s, all of us, be respectful to one another whether we agree or not.
That is the team of all of you I would like to lead. If we commit to it, we’ll have a successful three years, working together, for the people of our region.
