Mayor’s text: ‘dealing with media drongos’
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown texted his friends that he couldn’t play tennis over the weekend because he had to ‘‘deal with media drongos over the flooding’’, it’s been reported.
The text has come to light following increasing criticism of the mayor’s response to unprecedented flooding on Friday that destroyed homes and resulted in four deaths.
The New Zealand Herald obtained a message Brown sent to his friends in a WhatsApp group, called Grumpy Old Men.
The group plays games on Fridays and Sundays at the West End Lawn Tennis Club in Westmere.
In it, he complained about having to cancel a planned tennis match ‘‘to deal with media drongos over the flooding tomorrow’’, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Experts spoken to by the Herald said the text showed Brown’s attitude towards the media didn’t reflect the needs of Auckland residents grappling with the floods. A spokesperson for Brown said the mayor was ‘‘not available’’ for interviews yesterday.
‘‘The Mayor was having a private conversation. His priority at this time is the ongoing emergency response and keeping Aucklanders safe with the region being lashed by severe weather,’’ she said.
‘‘The staff member’s comment was taken out of context, and any issues of performance will be included in the review.’’
A request to interview Brown on Monday was also declined, although he later held a media stand-up. According to his Twitter feed, Brown was in the Rodney ward yesterday morning, meeting up with councillor Greg Sayers and members of the Rodney Local Board.
They were planning to ‘‘inspect damage, listen to the community and check that preparations are fully in place for tonight and the rest of the week’’, the tweet thread said. He would be back in his office in Auckland city by 4pm. There have been calls for Brown to resign due to his leadership during the floods.
Questions have been raised over the time taken for him to sign and communicate a declaration of a state of emergency when the flooding hit the city on Friday.
On the weekend, one of Brown’s own staff members told a Stuff reporter ‘‘we’re doing a terrible job’’. On Monday, in response to questions about his handling of the disaster Brown said: ‘‘I’m certainly not going to resign’’. He announced there would be an independent review into the response to the region’s devastating floods.