Delicate balance at AK council

Strong win for Goff but term won’t be easy

John Tamihere boasted in August when the numbers come in for the Auckland mayoralty “it won’t be close”. He was right, he was miles behind former Labour colleague Phil Goff at the finish line.

Goff’s positive message for the city scooped up 155,957 votes, more than twice the 70,822 votes for Tamihere: nearly 48 per cent of the vote.

Craig Lord rounded up the top three among the 21 contenders with 25,430 votes.

Goff has also seen off a serious challenge from the “B Team” — made up of councillors who were trying to defeat “Team Goff” — although the informal grouping of his opponents had a net gain of one seat.

In Waitemata¯, Pippa Coom narrowly beat Mike Lee, who has been a thorn in Goff’s side but the B Team has been boosted by wins for Angela Dalton in Manurewa-Papakura and Tracy Mulholland in Whau.

Dalton replaced Sir John Walker, who retired for health reasons, Labour’s Shane Henderson got elected in Waita¯kere to replace outgoing Penny Hulse, and Mulholland defeated Goff ally Ross Clow, chairman of the finance committee.

The net effect of these changes is a finely balanced council, with Goff having between nine and 11 votes to call upon and the B Team holding 10 votes.

Mark Thomas, who moved out of his $4.7 million home in Remuera into his office in Dominion Rd to convince voters he lived in the Albert-EdenPuketa¯papa ward, failed to get elected.

This year’s preliminary voter turnout is a dismal 30.44 per cent — the lowest turnout since the Super City was formed in 2010. The previous low was 35.5 per cent in 2013.

It was a drop on Goff’s votes in the 2016 elections, 187,622. Vic Crone was second in the last election, scoring more than Tamihere at 111,731 while third off the rank, Chloe Swarbrick, now a Green MP, scored more than Lord with 29,098.

An elated Goff told supporters at the Kingslander pub in Kingsland he got strong support from across Auckland. “It’s a celebration for me and I think the beginning to build on what we have already achieved and build a city that we can be proud of.”

He took a swipe at Tamihere, saying the campaign had been rougher and more personal than 2016. At one debate Tamihere uttered the Nazi salute “sieg heil” towards Goff.

It’s a celebration for me and I think the beginning to build on what we have already achieved.

Phil Goff

Goff, who entered politics in 1981 as a Labour MP but has stood as an independent candidate in local politics, did face a stern test from Tamihere, a former Labour colleague and chief executive of the Waipareira Trust.

Tamihere shook up the mayoral contest with an energetic campaign and a raft of policies, but his unpredictable side also came to the fore.

Goff is clear about his priorities for a second term: building infrastructure, tackling climate change and a review of council-controlled organisations.

Aucklanders loathe the CCO model, and Auckland Transport in particular.

Goff said family would remain a focus for the next few weeks.