Beneath the mayoral campaign slogans
OPINION: There once was a mayor of Auckland elected with a policy of ‘‘Doing More with Less’’.
Six years later, Phil Goff will retire from office having signed off two average rates rises at record levels for Auckland Council, and more than double the rises that preceded and initially followed his election.
Of course there’s been Covid-19 (unexpected), and the need to invest to counter climate change (not unexpected), but it is a reminder that in an election year, slogans and talk are cheap.
Goff’s 2016 ‘‘More with Less’’ line never withstood scrutiny because his own election policy was to limit average rates rises to 2.5 per cent, which in anyone’s language is ‘‘more’’.
To his credit, Goff wasn’t just plucking numbers from thin air. His campaign team included a former Treasury official who had been through the council books and apparently found plenty of room for savings.
The campaign line was that savings of 3-6 per cent were possible, up to $70 million a year. But that’s when being an outsider running for office, even awellresearched one, started to show some flaws.
The council already had costcutting under way and had found $70m in seven months. When asked, Goff insisted his saving would be on top of that. Savings were found but not at that level.
As voters ponder who they want as mayor from October, they should scratch below the slogans and consider whether the promises can be delivered.
This year’s mayoral slogans include businessman Wayne Brown calling himself ‘‘The Fixer’’; restaurateur Leo Molloy wanting to ‘‘Secure Auckland’s Future’’; and Viv Beck’s ‘‘Auckland Deserves Better’’.
Labour-endorsed councillor Efeso Collins – the only insider candidate – has yet to hoist a slogan, while return candidate Craig Lord says ‘‘Don’t moan for change, vote for change’’.
Beating up Auckland Transport is an election-year favourite, and the three outsiders all indulge in it to varying degrees. Portraying the council as over-paid bureaucrats, fiddling while the city burns, is another favourite.
Leo Molloy has become the first to dial back a strident pledge about council-owned Auckland Transport – that he would make himself its chairman, preceding a top-level overhaul.
It is amove that is not allowed under the legislation that created the amalgamated Auckland Council, but when Stuff twice tried to talk to Molloy about it, his campaign team blocked interviews.
Molloy’s stated policy now is that he would ‘‘replace the board’’ of AT – something he could influence but not decide alone.
Wayne Brown is also on the CCO-hunt (the agencies called Council Controlled Organisations), branding property and development arm Eke Panuku as ‘‘a development company competing with ratepayers and private sector developers’’.
In most cases it is not, but Brown otherwise stays in the politically safe ground ofmaking personal judgements on what the CCOs need to do better.
Under the amalgamation legislation, Auckland’s mayor gets some additional roles compared with others, and access to a generous – though never fully used – budget to staff an office and do research.
But when voters decide which campaign cry they fancy, they should remember the mayor has no great power.
The mayor has influence and still needs to build consensus around the council table for any initiative.
Directorships of council agencies, such as Auckland Transport, are decided by majority around a committee table.
It is early days in this year’s Auckland mayoral race, though. In 2016, the first public candidate debate happened in February.
Over the comingmonths, Aucklanders should expect some convincing arguments aboutwhat each candidate will do, and how, with the slogans fading into the background.