Minute Item Attachments of Extraordinary Meeting of the Governing Body

Date:

Time:

Meeting Room:

Venue:

Friday 28 October 2022

6.00pm

Reception Lounge
Auckland Town Hall
301-305 Queen Street
Auckland

Governing Body

OPEN MINUTE ITEM ATTACHMENTS

ITEM TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE

7 Te Whakapuakanga ā-Ture | Statutory Declaration - Mayor

A. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: His Worship the Mayor, Wayne Brown - signed declaration 3

B. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: His Worship the Mayor, Wayne Brown - Inaugural speech 5

8 Te Whakapuakanga ā-Ture | Statutory Declarations - Councillors

A. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Councillors signed declarations 13

9 Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches

A. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Andrew Baker 35

B. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Julie Fairey 37

C. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Lotu Fuli 41

D. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Mike Lee 43

E. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Kerrin Leoni 47

F. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Ken Turner 51

G. 28 October 2022, Governing Body: Item 9 - Te Kauhau Tuatahi a Te Mema Hou | Maiden Speeches, Councillor Maurice Williamson 53

Governing Body

28 October 2022

I KNOW THAT SOME HERE VIEW ME AS ONE OF THE NEWBIES AND I SINCERELY APPRECIATE THE WORDS OF WELCOME AND ADVICE, LIKE ANYTHING IN LIFE, YOU LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

BUT I FEEL AFTER 12 YEARS ON THE FRANKLIN LOCAL BOARD, MOST OF IT AS CHAIR, I BRING A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE, UNPARRALLELED UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT LIFE IS REALLY LIKE WITHIN THE OTHER ARM OF OUR SHARED GOVERNANCE MODEL AS WELL AS A WELL FORMED UNDERSTANDING OF HOW COUNCIL OPERATES.

IT IS AN IMMENSE PRIVILEGE TO HAVE COMPLETED MY APPRENTICESHIP AND TO HAVE EARNED THE TRUST OF THE PEOPLE OF FRANKLIN, BY AND LARGE A COLLECTION OF COMMUNITIES STILL STRUGGLING TO GET THEIR HEADS AROUND BEING PART OF AUCKLAND AND WITH REAL SUSPICION THAT ACTUALLY, AS MENTIONED WITHIN THE REPORT REIMAGINING TAMAKI MAKAURAU, NOT ALL PARTS OF AUCKLAND ARE TREATED EQUITABLY.

MAYBE WE NEED TO TELL THE STORY BETTER, MAYBE WE NEED TO ACTUALLY DO A BETTER JOB MEANINGFULLY MITIGATING AND ADDRESSING THOSE SUSPICIONS. THE REALITY PROBABLY LIES SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE.

COUNCIL IS 12 YEARS OLD, AND LIKE SO MANY 12 YEAR OLDS WE ARE SEEING SOME SIGNIFICANT CHANGES AND WHEN WE LOOK IN THE MIRROR WE DO HAVE A FEW PIMPLES WE NEED TO DEAL WITH.

I SENSE A REAL DESIRE FOR A CHANGE IN APPROACH WHICH I APPLAUD AS LONG AS WE GET THE BALANCE RIGHT.

AS A COUNCIL WE CAN ACHIEVE SO MUCH MORE IF WE ACTUALLY PUT SOME MEANING INTO THE TERM EMPOWERING. WHETHER WE ARE ACTUALLY EMPOWERING AND TRUSTING OUR STAFF TO MAKE DECISIONS AT THE APPROPROATE LEVELS, EMPOWERING AND TRUSTING OUR COMMUNITIES SO WE ACTUALLY WORK TOGETHER INSTEAD OF FEELING THE NEED FOR COUNCIL TO DO THINGS FOR OR TO COMMUNITIES….LETS DO MORE WITH OUR COMMUNITIES.

OR WHETHER WE ACTUALLY DELIVER THE INTENT OF OUR FOUNDING LEGISLATION BY TRUSTING, EMPOWERING AND DELEGATING APPROPRIATE DECISION MAKING RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR LOCAL BOARDS. WE HAVE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY NOT TO RADICALLY CHANGE BUT TAKE WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED OVER OUR COUNCIL CHILDHOOD AND ADJUST FOR THOSE DIFFICULT TEEN YEARS.

PERHAPS WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE WISDOM OF THE COMMUNITY WILL ALWAYS EXCEED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXPERTS. OUR COMMUNITIES ARE NOT CLIENTS, THEY ARE PEOPLE WILLING AND EXPECTING US TO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS AND WANTING TO BE PART OF THAT DECISION MAKING.

I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE MY GOOD MATES DES MORRISON AND BILL CASHMORE WHO HAVE SET A STANDARD BUT WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR I AM NOT A 2.0 VERSION OF EITHER.

AND IF I CAN MAKE ONE PLEA FROM 12 YEARS OF BEING SOMETIMES A VISITOR AND SOMETIMES A PARTICIPANT OF DISCUSSIONS AROUND THIS TABLE, IT IS ABOUT USING OUR TIME AND THOSE HERE HAVING TO LISTEN TO OUR DEBATES AND DISCUSSIONS EFFICIENTLY AND ECONOMICALLY.

BEST SUMMARISED BY A COUPLE OF QUOTES:

· Speak only if you can improve upon silence….

AND A FAVOURITE OF BOTH MY GRANDFATHER AND FATHER IN THEIR POLITICAL LIVES WHO BOTH HAD IT ON THEIR OFFICE WALL AND ONE YOU WILL FIND ON MINE:

· IT IS BETTER TO REMAIN SILENT AND BE THOUGHT A FOOL THAN TO OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT.

THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY.

Governing Body

28 October 2022

E ngā mana

E ngā reo

E rau rangatira ma

Tēnā koutou

Ko Puketāpapa Pukewīwī Mt Roskill te maunga te ru nei taku ngākau

Ko Te Auaunga Oakley Creek te awa e mahea nei aku māharahara

No Kaipātiki ahau

E mihi ana ki ngā tohu o ne he o Tamaki Makaurau e noho e nei au

Ko Julie Fairey tōku ingoa

In reverse order…

My name is Julie Fairey and I acknowledge the ancestral people and landmarks of this place, the whenua we do this mahi upon, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. I am originally from Kaipātiki; Glenfield on the North Shore. Te Auaunga Oakley Creek is the awa or river that eases my worries, and Puketāpapa Pukewīwī Mt Roskill is the maunga or mountain that speaks to my heart.

Greetings to all - to the many leaders, to all voices, and to all authorities.

I acknowledge those who have come before me and whose shoulders we all stand on. May we in turn be good ancestors too.

I acknowledge those who have helped me to get here; family, friends, my small village of childcare helpers, total strangers on Twitter, the campaign team, my hairdresser, and of course my community; sincerely thank you.

I want to take this opportunity to particularly acknowledge Dr Cathy Casey, who retired as councillor for the mighty ward of Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa this year after nearly three decades of local government service here and in the Wairarapa. I have known Cathy since 2000, when we were both involved in the Alliance party, and have appreciated her staunch commitment to progressive ideas, her support for me personally, and her passionate advocacy for the underdogs, including actual dogs. I hope that I can build on her legacy, especially around working to end homelessness, and wish her well in her move north.

Over the years many people have influenced and supported me to be where I am today, and I am incredibly grateful for that. None of us has ended up around this table solely by our own efforts, and we will succeed in this arena only if we work with others too.

Indeed I had some help this time around from people who supported my first attempt at getting elected to local government way back in 1997, when I ran for the Executive of the Auckland University Students’ Association. I won that election against a rival who put a disconcerting image of their own disembodied head on their leaflet. I adopted one of their policy ideas though; putting bright safety tape on the edge of the stairs up to Shadows to reduce falls at night. I served on that student executive in 1998 and again in 1999, with Lotu Fuli and Efeso Collins in fact.

Back then we were responsible for services and advocacy for over 20,000 students, including governance of a large catering company, some very valuable property, grants to university clubs and societies, a radio station and a weekly magazine. (Not so different from a local board, I recognise now).

It was a heady time for me in my late teens and early twenties; advocating against central government’s proposals on privatising tertiary education, standing up for women’s rights, and pushing the university to put student wellbeing at the core of their decision-making. At the time I thoroughly rejected the idea that any of it was local government, as that was supremely uncool. Little did I realise I was already hooked.

I spent some time after that too unwell to work, suffering from Myalgic encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. For three years I lived like a lazy orange house cat, volunteering for causes I cared about when I could. Eventually I was able to work again, at the Mount Roskill Library as a part time library assistant. I have always loved libraries, and books, and this was a great haven for me as I was emerging from a very shut in existence. That library is still very much one of my happy places, and I visit often, including helping out as a Justice of the Peace at the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Once I was able to work full time again I was employed at several different unions, working mainly on education and organising for union members. I thus have some experience of what it is like to be an officer following the whims of elected members, and I respect the sanctity of the staff room which gives those valuable opportunities to vent.

Most of the time I worked with early childhood staff and those working in primary schools. Just like at the students’ association, and in local government, it was all about working collaboratively, collectively even, to improve people’s lives, this time focused on their day jobs.

Like many of the public services of our society, education gets by on the goodwill of those who work in it, going above and beyond what the job description says. I see many parallels with our amazing Council staff in that. I think of the officers who have over the years answered hard questions, found the money, and generally work hard to make elected members look good. We could not do this do without them.

In 2010 I was sceptical about this new Super City; I didn’t see how it would deliver everything that was promised, and I worried that the local board structure would be too removed from local communities. I threw my hat in the ring for a local ticket at the last minute as someone else had pulled out. I was eight months pregnant, on maternity leave, and had no local profile, so had no hopes and indeed my friend Gwen Shaw who paid my candidate levy did not expect I would be able to pay her back.

The team campaigned, but I didn’t, instead focusing on having my second child and looking after a toddler. I was shocked to be successful on election day, holding my newborn and suffering postnatal depression while my eldest stayed with grandparents. I can still remember the dismay I felt about how I could possibly do all this, whatever This even was.

And that first term was hard; there was a huge level of uncertainty as no one really knew how things would work. Lots of elected members, particularly those who had been on legacy councils, thought that it would just be a very part time commitment, a hobby even, but it was very quickly clear it was a twenty hour plus a week professional job even for local board members.

There was just too much to do, too much to set-up, too many people to hear from and assist, to just dip in and out a few hours a month. The council organisation recognised this too, significantly increasing the staffing support to local boards, to be the highly effective configuration they have now; enabling powerful advocacy, meaningful consultation, and robust decision-making at the most local level, and giving communities a real say. Helping our communities to “care loudly” as Lesley Knope would say, is not a quiet or modest undertaking.

Twelve years on a local board is a long time; the longest I’ve worked in one place. I’m proud to have contributed to giving Puketāpapa a place on the regional map, to building a strong reputation with council departments and CCOs, establishing connections with mana whenua, and delivering some wonderful local projects like Te Auaunga in Wesley. I wish the new board good luck for this term, and look forward to seeing what working with Albert-Eden and Puketāpapa Local Boards from a regional perspective looks like for us all.

I said earlier that I used to think local government was deeply uncool. And a lot of people definitely still think that, judging by the low voter turn out. One of my missions, since being first elected in 2010, has been to excite people about the potential of their local council. The ways that they can work with others to make the positive changes no one can make alone; be that in their neighbourhood, their community, their city, or beyond. Sometimes what council needs to do is get out of the way, and that’s ok, we should do that. Often though what we can do is provide connections and resources, information and opportunities to share, and articulate the common ambitions that are out there for a better Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Local government is woven through many facets of our daily lives; every time we flush the toilet, enjoy the shade of a tree, walk to the dairy, eat at the local Thai place, have a go on the basket swing, even when we hear a ruru while we are writing a speech late at night. Council touches all of these things, and more; what we decide and what council does at our direction is at the very heart of what makes a place and it’s people sing.

It’s important to me that as many of our people as possible have a say in how those decisions are made; how the priorities, processes and projects are set.

At a time when climate action is essential, when social justice is vital, when human connection to each other and the whenua matters so much, the political processes we lead can be catalysts for positive change.

I believe a city is about sharing. It’s a place where people live together and share resources to make things better. We can help with that, and we can lead by example too.

I look forward to sharing the mahi with you all over the next three years, as we make positive change together.

Ngā mihi nui

Governing Body

28 October 2022

Mike Lee Governing Body ‘maiden speech’ 1 November 2022

Mr Mayor

Members of the Governing Body

Officers of the Auckland Council

Members of the public

Tena koutou katoa. Talofa lava.

Greetings everyone.

I wish to join the previous speakers in congratulating the mayor and my fellow councillors on their successful elections. I must express my thanks to the people of Waitematā & Gulf and across Auckland who supported my own election. Some of them are here around the table.

I am grateful for having been extended the privilege of making a maiden speech today though I must point out having first been elected to the Auckland Regional Council more than 30 years ago, I’m hardly a maiden - in any shape or form. However I do appreciate the honour.

Though not a maiden my situation is admittedly unusual. And events over recent weeks demonstrate that true life sometimes can be stranger than fiction. Not many people would have predicted this a year ago. Least of all me. The question is why am I here? Well I was not I called back because my electorate was overcome by a wave of nostalgia.

No. The only reason I was called back at all is because Auckland Council is in crisis. That crisis is financial but it is also cultural in respect of the council’s image and its standing with the public.

And this is what the mayor pointed out in his speech in the Town Hall last Friday evening and on many occasions during his long and arduous election campaign.

The counter narrative that the council is doing a pretty good job and all would be well but for covid is not valid and not justified by objective reality. We first must admit that there is a problem before we can really fix it.

And let be clear it is not one part of the organisation that is failing, not one CCO – not one company - the whole Super City entity is failing - across the board,

And rather like the dying fish analogy, failure I should point out starts at the head, the Council. And so fixing the organisation, resolving the crisis must also come from the head.

I don’t believe the people of Auckland have been served well in the reporting of the Council’s financial crisis. The news media tends to focus too much in my view on personalities.

However, I must credit Bernard Orsman of the NZ Herald for his journalism in an investigation piece that came out last year. The article was called ‘Super Rich in the Super City– the companies pocketing $10b of ratepayers money’.
This revealed, that $10b from the ‘Super City’ over ten years went to 20 favoured corporates, mainly Australian owned construction and public transport companies but including of all things a local recruitment company. The article states ‘Figures provided by the council group under the Official Information Act show Auckland Transport accounts for about $7b of the $10b spend. Auckland Council $2b and Watercare $1b.’

‘The Super City has become a $10 billion gold mine for multinational corporations and big local companies. The model of contracting out most of the work of Auckland Council has fed about $10b of ratepayers’ money to 20 companies since the inception of the Super City in 2010.’

According to this report some $7b of that ratepayers’ money, 70 percent went to AT.

There is a saying ‘Things will get worse before they get better’. That seems to be borne out by the headlines in yesterdays’ Herald.

The first relates to the extraordinary profits earned by the construction company Fulton Hogan. The headline read ‘Fulton Hogan staff take up shares as dividend jumps 46%’ As the lead in put it, ‘The company continues to rack up impressive profits…’.

I recall Fulton Hogan was number 2 in the list of the top 20 corporates which were the beneficiaries of that $10b. During the first 10 years of the Super City, Fulton Hogan earned $1.5b. One can be sure it’s quite a bit more than that now.

The second headline read: ‘Auckland Transport axing of almost 1000 bus services to reduce cancellations described as cynical’. The story goes on to identify the cause of the cancellations a lack of bus drivers due to the inability of AT’s contractors to provide wages and conditions sufficient to attract bus drivers.

I suspect these two stories are connected.

By the way, presumably these 1000 bus services were budgeted for by the council, so one wonders what happens to that money?

In the past Auckland was criticised for not investing enough in public transport. Well for at least 15 years the people of Auckland have been paying more than their share to achieve ‘world class public transport’. But there is every reason to believe we are being sold short.

So to return to my point, the Council is not only failing financially, in the eyes of the public it has a culture problem.

In that remarkably joyful ceremony in the Town Hall last Friday evening, the meeting that we are continuing today, all the elected members solemnly swore as a condition of our right to hold office to uphold the Local Government Act (2002) and the Local Government Official Information and Meeting Act (1987). I do question how well we monitor the upholding of our collective promises.

What I found during the recent election campaign was that the one aspect that most irritated, indeed antagonised the public was what many considered false or fake consultation, where the public are constantly asked to ‘have your say’ but almost inevitably, despite public submissions, the council or CCOs have their way. I received more complaints about this than rates increases.

Yet public consultation is treated very seriously and in detail in the Local Government Act section 82. ‘Principles of Consultation’.

Despite the explicit requirements of this section of the Act regarding provision of information, as a member of the public I found it impossible to obtain background information on the proposed transfer of regional parks into the DOC managed Hauraki Marine Park. The information sought was a legal report. Being declined it after considerable delay I was obliged to go to the Ombudsman and to this day the matter is subject to wrangling between the Council and the Ombudsman. That’s not good enough,

Which leads me directly to the other Act we swore to uphold, the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).

As well as what I believe is ‘gaming’ of the requirements of the Act, its public transparency provisions are simply by-passed by the Council and Local Boards by the routine holding of behind closed-door workshops.

Up on the 26^th floor of 135 Albert Street, outside the main door of committee room 1 there is a sign on its own metal stand, so routinely used it is there permanently. It says ‘Confidential – Public excluded.’

It is evidently there to ward off any member so interested in their local government that they manage to get through the security gates on the ground floor, into the security lifts and up to the 26^th floor and the committee one room door.

Now clearly there are occasions when the council must exclude the public for genuine commercial or legal reasons but there is an open process to go through to justify that set out in Part 7, section 48 of LGOIMA.

So, as well as opening the books, the doors also need to be opened.

Under Mayor Brown’s leadership this must be a reforming council.

For the city/region we love Auckland this meeting which is the 12^th anniversary of the establishment of Auckland Council must be a brand new start. We cannot fail.

Thank you.

It is not only failing financially – in the eyes of the public it also has a culture problem.

In that remarkable joyful ceremony in the Town Hall the other evening - the first part of our meeting – all the elected members swore to uphold the Local Government Act 2002 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act.

A message I received during my campaign was that the most irritating and frustrating aspects of Council and CCO behaviour – I increases is what was termed fake consultation – you know where the public is urged to have your say but inevitably the council has its way,

This is not only a breach of LGOIMA but also the council’s obligations under the Local Government Act (2003) Section 82 Principles of Consultation (I refer you to s 82 (1) (a) (c).).

26^th floor there is a notice there right now ‘Public excluded

too much public excluded which defeats the purposed

All too often in the past CCOs have not only dominated the budgetary process but in doing dominated policy.

So that not only means changing the legislation – especially around CCOs which were clearly to be a democracy free zone and are not ‘council controlled’.

But within the constraints of the Act we must begin to reform the CCOs but never forgetting we must also reform the council itself

This cannot be a business as usual council a status quo council.

Change council – a reformist council

First we must Open the books

Live within its means

We are on a mission to save the council and to save Auckland,

Councils and CCOs are here to serve the public – not the other way round,

Governing Body

28 October 2022

E Rangatira Ma

E Rangatahi ma

Ngā Mihi nui tatau

Ngā Mihi Nga Manawhenua

Ngā Mihi Tikapa Moana

Ngā Mihi Ngā Maunga o Tamaki Makaurau

Tīhei Mauri Ora

Tēnā Koutou ngā Rangatira ma

Ka huihui mai nei tēnei ra

Ki te taha o tōku māmā no Te Tai Tokerau ahau Ko Ngati Kuri Ko Ngaitakoto tōku Iwi

Ki te taha o tōku pāpā Ko Ngāti Pāoa te Iwi mana whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau

Kia ora to all of my colleagues today; some new and some I have known throughout my political journey. I acknowledge the mayor and councillors. Congratulations to you all and I look forward to working together over the next three years for a better and beautiful Tāmaki Makaurau.

I want to start by acknowledging all those who voted for me in the Whau, West Auckland, Avondale, New Lynn, Green Bay, Rosebank and Blockhouse Bay; thriving growing communities who want to see progressive leadership for their people. I want to acknowledge the Whau Labour campaign team, Jacques, Kay, Claire and my wider campaign team who door knocked, gave out leaflets at train stations and believed in the skills that I can contribute to the governing body in Tāmaki Makarau.

I want to give particular acknowledgement to Annaca Sorensen, Brooke Loader, Nerissa Henry, Lotu Fuli, Margorie Maclean and Antony Phillips who supported me in initial conversations, and particularly Annaca who has been a support person traveling from other parts of the country to support the campaign because we both believe in breaking glass ceilings in all spaces and ensuring that especially those who have been marginalised in the past in all sectors of our communities forge forward when opportunities arise to step forward and take these spaces.

A few more acknowledgements; my nana Marguerite Leoni, Linda Salmon, my Irish grandfather Len Salmon, and my parents. My other mentors current as well as previous local board members, the Waitematā local board, Richard Northey, Pippa Coom (previously the amazing councillor of Waitematā and Gulf) and my colleagues Glenda Fryer, Alex Bonham, Julie Sandilands, Adriana Christie, Graham Gunthorp and the City Vision whānau.

I can’t miss out my in-laws Kirar and Teena, and Damian Hauwai, the father of my children who has taken the reigns on childcare over the past 6 months.

My political journey started at high school over on Waiheke island, starting a youth group over there and receiving a certificate for my youth work from the Mayor Les Mills. At the time I had also started my whakapapa journey being partly based in Kaitaia and remember hitch hiking back down to Auckland not because we didn’t have the money to drive but just because we could with my Uncle Mangu Awarau. If we talk about lowering emissions this is a great example. I went to complete my first degree at AUT in Māori development, majoring in social services then starting my first Masters at the young age of 20 in youth development with a focus on Māori in foster care. Then moving over to the UK, running my own consultancy company for 10 years, completing my second Masters in International Politics and Economics. I started a charity sending young Māori and Pacific people to London to link in with New Zealand owned businesses and show them there is more to life and what they are capable of. I came home because I knew there were still significant areas of inequality in our country that need to be addressed. I’ve mentioned my background as the first wahine Māori councillor and i‘ll add in Italian also ( I have to acknowledge my part Italian grandfather given I carry his surname) for the Super City and we must continue to break class ceilings. Fast forward 20 years and here I am as a regional councillor.

Back to my regional issues, I would like to acknowledge the original iwi mana whenua of this land who once managed the planning, transport, housing pathways and communal activities for thriving communities across Tāmaki Makaurau and I strong believe the political system should ensure mana whenua are at all levels of decision making today, 180 years since signing Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

My regional issues I would like to see supported include:

· Economic recovery from Covid, supporting our business associations

· Ensuring our infrastructure is prioritised, that we have clean water and the hauraki Gulf has the attention it needs

· That our transport links move towards those similar to London where we can get across the city on reliable transport on time

· That we also move towards a 10-15 Minute City, that from our home we can access transport, parks health centres and supermarkets

· That we feel safe in our communities and we have regional strategies to prioritise our rangatahi future leaders of Auckland

Back to the Whau. First of all I want to acknowledge our mana whenua and key iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Te Kawerau a Maki, our growing community, Māori, Pasifika, multi-cultural ethnic communities and long terms residents.

I also acknowledge our Community Hubs doing the hard grassroots work in their communities Blockhouse Bay, Glenavon, Kelson, Rosebank, and New Lynn Community Centre.

I have my shopping list for my community.

· First on my list, a swimming pool in Whau for the growing population and families we have there. Our closest pools are in the Waitakere and Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa wards. If we look at our current statistics the Whau will have one of the most significant growing populations, intensification is upon us and we need to ensure we are advocating for the best community facilities and green spaces.

· Secondly, the Avondale Community Hub which has been in consultation for an extensive period of time.

· A youth hub for our rangatahi and looking at how we can work with central government and funding organisations for life skills education towards budget management, home ownership and housing, breaking cycles of poverty.

· On the note of housing, I have been working in the mana whenua space on housing developments across Tāmaki Makaurau. Again, working in partnership with central government we need to look at more shared equity home ownership schemes, rent-to-buy so Aucklanders feel they are working hard in their chosen professions towards something they can see an outcome for. I think about the hard-working parents in Auckland working two jobs a week to cover their rent and costs for children, managing our high cost of living. What can we as the decision makers of Taāmaki Makaurau do to ease this pressure? What do we already have in place? Community gardens have traditionally fed thousands of people in Te Ao Māori and we have vacant land sitting there not being used to benefit our communities.

· Safe communities in Whau. I acknowledge the stabbing that took place a few weeks ago and want to ensure our resents feel we have the best plans of prevention around this.

· Retaining our green spaces for our growing communities

· The Te Whau Pathway and cleaning up the Whau river. My whanaunga mentioned she used to swim in the Whau river when she was a child – this is how it can be and should be. Regarding the pathways if our lovely neighbours in Ōrākei have an amazing pathway the Whau should too have beautiful pathways.

Safe communities with good housing, reliable and effective transport and green spaces with amazing community facilities is what I would like to see in Whau.

Finally, aupporting our business associations for our economies to thrive are crucial so I will ensure that I am doing the best I can do to advocate for business growth and new entrepreneurship social enterprises are a priority. The great thing is we know you don’t need a degree to start a business. That is definitely the case for people like Richard Branson who was also dyslexic.

So, if we keep in the front of our minds and decision making both our most affluent in the city as well as the most vulnerable I think we will do an amazing job.

It is crucial that we make the right decisions for our future generations to come and adhere to the vision of Te Tiriti o Waitangi for mana whenua and the residents of Tāmaki Makaurau to lead the city and make the best combined decisions for our people.

Nō reira

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata he tangata, he tangata!

Nō reira Tēnā Koutou

Tēnā Koutou

Kia ora mai tātou katoa

Governing Body

28 October 2022

Mr. Mayor, fellow Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Wow!! is the word that comes to mind.

My standing here today is the result of a journey I embarked on 9 years ago. A journey that would have fallen short of its destination without the support of my beautiful wife Helen and family.

I set out to fix wrongs. I felt unheard, unrepresented, and irrelevant.

Many of the people around me felt the same, and they too encouraged and supported me. And God gave me naivety. Many times in my life I’ve looked back and said If I had known then what I know now.

And what I know now, is the dedication, hard work, and cost it takes to be a good advocate for the people. I have gone through a second apprenticeship at an age when many are contemplating retirement.

And to my fellow elected members here, whether I agree or vehemently disagree with your views you have my respect and admiration.

My travels have brought me many good friends and teammates.

It has taught me `patience; it has taught me how to listen and it has taught me to be less judgmental. I have learned that we all have a lot in common.

But above all, it has focused my purpose.

I am very clear; I am here to represent the people.

I understand that I am now a working part of Council, but the people set my job description.

I am to be their eyes, ears, and voice.

I understand that as a Councillor I have a regional responsibility to act in the best interests of Auckland, but that said a healthy and prosperous Waitakere benefits all of Auckland.

There are challenges ahead, but the biggest challenge is to stay level-headed.

I entered the workforce as an apprentice mechanic in 1973. Before that decade was over, we had Car-less Days a government emergency initiative to avoid a fossil fuel shortage.

Here I am almost 50 years later still with a fossil fuel problem only this time it’s because we are using too much. My entire adult life the background conversation has been about energy.

Responding to that first fuel problem, the automotive industry, went through huge technological advancements. In the 1970s, to have suggested the driving controls of a car would be physically separated from the mechanical responses, and that the driver’s accelerator pedal would become a potentiometer electronically delivering the drivers desires to an engine management computer which in turn insured the response to his request is delivered in the most fuel-efficient way, would have be seen as pure science fiction.

But that is today’s reality, and it reduces carbon emissions, just when we need it most, despite that not having been the primary purpose.

Yet silly people who seem un-interested in what has gone before, now see fit to install speed humps at regular intervals along our roads, forcing drivers to toggle between the brake and accelerator pedals, and in doing so render the gains from all this technological advancement useless. In fact, worse than useless.

For 26 of the last 50 years, I also operated a small pig farm. In the late 80s when I began there was over 20 pig farms in the Auckland area. We all supplied Auckland Council municipal abattoirs. Like most of the other farmers, I fed my pigs food scraps. It only recently dawned on me that my primary benefit to Auckland was not suppling pork but helping to process Auckland’s food waste. Today as a result of Council decisions, there are 3 commercial scale pig farmers in Auckland and none are feeding food scraps, and we are about to truck our cities food scraps (which are 80% water) to Repora just north of Taupo.

Transporting this food waste south will add over 2 million kg of carbon emissions annually.

Council staff maintain the carbon emissions are zero because the food scraps are a backhaul filling otherwise empty trucks which cart aggregate from the same region the other way to Auckland.

But that’s only because we’ve closed most of the quarries near to our city.

Actions like these flies in the face of technical advancement and logical thinking.

People have asked me to focus on core issues in a way that helps make affordable and lasting change.

To do this we need to think holistically. We need to ask those three core questions: compared to what: at what cost: and what are the facts.

And we need to ensure we don’t throw common sense, and public money, out the window.

Lastly, I’ve also been asked to defend our open spaces and public access to them.

Auckland is a great place to live and work and this is underpinned by our kiwi way of life.

We are the City of Sails moreover the city of swimmers, surfers, fishermen, trampers, runners and bikers.

It is Auckland’s great outdoors and the people’s access to it which sets us up as a most liveable city.

As our city intensifies our access to nature and green spaces becomes more essential to people’s health and well-being.

I also need to acknowledge Linda Cooper, the councillor before me, for her hard work. I wish her all the best for the future.

I am looking forward to working alongside you all over the next 3 years as we lead Auckland.

Governing Body

28 October 2022

Well, a very good morning to you all and coming at the end of a very long list of phenomenal speeches. I sort of feel a bit like Elizabeth Taylor 8th husband died. I know what's expected of me, but how am I going to make it interesting for you.

Well, I thought I might just do a little bit about me because most of you think I'm a right wing evil, horn devil, but there's a few things you need to know. I'm terribly socially liberal. I supported the Homosexual Reform Bill in 1986. I expected to support a gay marriage. I supported Prostitution Reform. I, as a Health Minister, distributed clean needles for the Needle Exchange Programme and front of the prostitutes collective to go out and produce their safe sex message.

In the broadcasting portfolio, I set up 23 Māori radio stations. I established Te Reo Whakapuaki Irirangi which you will know is Te Mangai Paho and when my FM in Auckland was about to go tip over I bulk funded them for three years of their money so that my FM could carry on and it's now one of our most successful radio stations.

So, although I'm terribly fiscally conservative, I'm very, very socially liberal. And I'm very strongly of a view that we've got to stop spending money we don't have, and we've got to stop sending the bill to a future generation and accumulating debt is a ghastly thing for any of us to be doing for a future generation, and I don't want anybody here to be putting up suggestions for anything unless they are absolutely confident they know where the funding for that will come from, or whether it will be taking it off another programme.

I went to Bill Birch once to get some funding for a medication for migraine headaches. He was Finance Minister and he said you should be putting this on the pharmac schedule. Well done Minister. I was surprised. But my surprise soon ended as I walked out of his room and he said, just let me know what part of your health budget you'll be taking the 35 million out of, because there's no new money. And that's something we should be doing on every one of the decisions we take around this table if you've got something.

Now my predecessor Paul Young in this portfolio wrote a really big article on Howick and Pakuranga Times recently about these wonderful things that he would do if he became the Councillor again, and every one of them were fantastic about helping businesses with ram raiders and doing what it was a brilliant list. But I'm sorry not one of them as a role of council. My view is we've got to get our core role and functions identified and focus on delivering those and those things that are central government. We should advocate and agitate for central government to be solving those problems.

I'm also concerned about CCOs and places like Auckland Transport who seem to spend their time in search of problems that don't exist. The money that's been spent in my electorate doing things like putting all sorts of speed humps and stuff around a local school. But when asked and finally through LGOIMA turned out there hadn't been any injuries, any accidents or anyone hurt, but there's been a lot of money experimenting with putting new things in. When I was Minister of Transport, I fought for a long time to move the Pakuranga Highway to 60 kilometres an hour from 50. Now it won't be of any interest to most of you, but let me tell you. It that Rd carries more vehicles per day than any other road in New Zealand other than State Highway 1 around Tip Top corner through to Newmarket more than any other road in New Zealand, it was 50 kilometres per hour and nobody but nobody observed it and I've got a video I can play to you anytime of me as Transport Minister driving up their highway with the television cameras in the back of my car filming my speedometer doing 67 kilometres for TV that night. Minister of Transport breaking the law, and then they pan to a car beside and it was a Police car doing the same. And now we've got the 60 if the speed limit at the speed of the vehicles dropped because people would comply with a sensible speed limit and now Auckland Transport saying we are gonna take it back to 50. Well no one will adhere to it and in fact, as far as I'm concerned, it's the lunatics running the asylum.

If I go back to the economic stuff, I find it really, really galling to come onto a Council. We're one of the biggest biggest expenditure items the City Rail Link. We have no idea what that number is. We have no idea now you would not you simply would not do a renovation or build a new house, and wait for the builder to come back and tell you that was 1.8 million. Do say it to the builder what's it gonna cost to do the following? Let's put it in writing, and if there's any variation we pay for the costings of the variation individually. And I find it galling that a number that I think is going to make your eyes water when we finally do see it. And it's just wrong that that should be happening. So I think we need to address a whole lot of efficiencies and so on within the place. I'm a big fan of public transport, but only where it makes sense and only where it's got the users and the numbers, but in my ward of Howick. In the last census, 92.8% of people use the private motor car or a passenger in the private motor car, or used a work vehicle for their going to and from work. 92.8%, and so I'm really trying to make desperately sure we represent their views along with the 3% that are either into cycling or walking or using the ferries at 1%. Not saying that's wrong for them not to have their bits. But 92.8% count as well, in my view.

I've served on some company boards. I was on the Holyoake Industry Board for 21 years. We turned in around 12 million EBITAR every year, and I know the biggest difference between governance and management and so many people in the parliamentary system I think didn't understand that my view is we’re Governors we're here to set goals and targets and then hold management for to account for the delivery of such.

I'm a big fan of evidence base. When I bought in the photo driver’s licence, I was absolutely caned by the news media. Leighton Smith ran a programme daily about how disgraceful it was Williamson was wanting to bring in an ID card. That's what this is. It's a bloody ID card. Another guy on news talks would be called Chris Carter not the politician said that if Williamson bought in the photo driver’s licence, he'd leave New Zealand, so I phoned him up on air and said it was great and he said oh you don't like myself. I said happy. I just want to know where it is. You're going because I don't know any other country in the western world or the developed world that doesn't have a photo on its driver’s licence and it actually followed a year later with the biggest drop in the road toll that this country has ever experienced because we were able to get the bad bugger off the road by identifying them at roadside with their photo.

So I'm evidence-based, I've got a degree in Computer Science and in Physics. If you want any help with splitting the helium nucleus, I'm really good at it. And I use the evidence-based computer systems I've got to generate a full amount of data before I rush in to make expressions of what I think count and what I think don't count.

With regards to relationships, I never saw people on the other side of Parliament as my enemies. I always saw them as opponents. Enemies were people you had on your own side and I can tell you that, for 30 years of Parliament I had the same senior private secretary, Brody Wilkinson, and in my electorate, the same electorate agent Carla Mickelson for 30 years. So I've had a good relationship with staff. I've never had a personal grievance or even the sight of one with hundreds or no thousands of staff that have either worked for me or answer to me, so I find that good.

Got one small issue on my plate at present I've got a 99-year-old mother. I am the only child she lives in her own family home in Matamata. She's one month away from a letter from King Charles, so we're looking forward to that. But I have to be up and down that Highway quite a bit to Matamata to get her through the next small time. I think her time will come to an end quite soon. So I want to say, thank you to you all. I'm here for a short time at my age because I can walk into a forest and be the oldest living thing there. I'm not here for a long time, but I'm here to try and make a difference and I want to finish with a quote about the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan didn't do what he did just because he was good. He also had the money and he could afford to do it. Thank you very much.