Election promises. Can they be delivered?
There’s no doubt he has passion, but does he have the support and the drive to make the changes Auckland needs and the changes he promises?
Candidate for Auckland’s super mayoralty, Len Brown, addressed AUT University’s MBA Consulting Club at a breakfast meeting recently at Piko Restaurant.
“Auckland is the nation’s great economic and social hope and has got to be New Zealand’s spear-head carrier and has got to drive the country forward,” Brown opened with.
The most important thing for Brown he says is uniting the city and the one value he says the city needs is courage.
“We need courage to lead Auckland into the 21st century,” he says.
If he were super mayor, Auckland would be business friendly, open and transparent, he says, with CCOs that are transparent and accountable to the community through local boards.
He plans to look at the environmental, social and economic changes that are holding Auckland back from being the great city it has the potential to be.
He’s not into selling off public assets in the interests of paying off debt he says. His focus will be on Auckland’s dilapidated transport system.
“We have an international city without an international transport system.”
To fix it he suggests: linking the airport to the seaport by rail; adding an inner city loop; and electrifying rail from Pukekohe to the North Shore and Orewa via another harbour crossing.
Director of AUT University’s Institute of Public Policy, Dave Wilson, questioned the strength of the local boards and whether they’d have the teeth to make any real difference.
“Mr Brown must make us believe he can lead. A strong mayor will be essential for this to work. The Achilles heel in the new structure, in terms of democracy, is the local boards. They are looking like powered up community boards with plenty of ‘voice’ (because of the elected members) but little power to implement election promises. Community boards as we know them today are set up by councils with delegated powers. In the new Super-City, local boards will still be like the old community boards in that their powers and responsibilities will be delegated to them by the new Auckland council. We will have effectively done away with a whole layer of democratic institutions – namely the current seven territorial authorities."
Wilson also believes Auckland must play a more prominent role in the New Zealand economy.
“Mr Brown’s plans for economic development are encouraging- the regional tourism and economic development CCO is also a good start. He will need to ensure though that the CCO has good connections to local economies, universities and business, that his council sets the strategic direction for the CCO and that Wellington devolves real power and responsibility to the Auckland Council and its CCO. This will allow Auckland to address core structural problems with its economy.
When it comes to the much-debated CCOs, Wilson says we are looking for a solution to managing Auckland’s assets that is ‘fit for purpose’.
“All CCOs are not created equal – they serve different purposes and perform different functions. Transport and water will deal primarily with assets that are “public goods” – we all own them. In my view these two hold the greatest risk for the new Mayor – these CCOs will spend much of ratepayers’ money ($680 million for Transport alone).”
Water is subsidised through a user pays system (you pay your water rates on top of your council rates) and the main thing the public will want to know is ‘am I paying a fair price for my water?’, he says.
“The new Water CCO will be a monopoly – the new Mayor will need to be able to assess whether the CCO is charging too much and/or investing excessively in infrastructure when money could be better spent elsewhere. So while we can make CCOs open and transparent the real question will be, can we make them accountable.”