Six candidates campaigning for votes in east Auckland for this year’s local elections have made their pitch to a large audience in Howick and several of them used the opportunity to highlight the absence of mayor Wayne Brown.
Brown is standing for re-election to the role, but he didn’t front the candidates event hosted by the Howick Ratepayers and Residents Association and attended by several hundred people at the Howick Bowling Club last Sunday.
Two of his rivals for the mayoralty, Whau ward councillor Kerrin Leoni and criminal barrister Ted Johnston, both attended and used the occasion to highlight their ideas and policies as well as Brown’s absence.
Taking part also as candidates for Auckland Council in the Howick ward were current Howick Local Board chairperson Damian Light and deputy chairperson Bo Burns, and newcomers Barry Jensen and Ali Dahche.
Incumbent Howick ward councillor Maurice Williamson was present, but he gave up his chance to take part in the candidates’ portion of the event to instead present to the audience on the issue of housing intensification at the end of the meeting.
Each candidate was given several minutes to introduce themselves to the audience.
Burns used the opportunity to thank retiring Howick ward councillor Sharon Stewart for her service to the community for the past 30 years, before saying her campaign is not about what she herself wants.
“It’s what you the community want. My strength is communication and marketing.
“I’m a business owner. I know how to make money, I know how to save money, but mainly what I know how to do well is execute.
“I’ve had a business for 23 years and had no problems there, and I managed to run a really great team and know how to look after the community.
“I’m very passionate about everything that you’ve spoken about before and all the things you bring to us as a local board.
“What’s really important to me is getting into council, communicating well and getting our fair share for our people here in east Auckland.”
Burns received applause from the audience when she said the local board had voted to oppose the council’s Proposed Plan Change 78 as well as its replacement, which would allow for greater housing intensification in parts of east Auckland.
Light said he gets asked why he’s standing for the council instead of pursuing a professional career.
“It’s quite simple. I love Auckland. I think it’s a fantastic city and I love living here, but there is something fundamentally broken with our council.
“We were promised 15 years ago that the super-city was going to fix things.
“I don’t know it’s fixed many things, but it’s certainly made a whole bunch of things worse, and we need to do more to fix it.
“When I talk to lots of locals, they tell me they’re frustrated with the lack of work that’s being done, the lack of progress, accountability, transparency.”
He said the state of the environment in the local community is “shocking” and “that’s appalling”.
“Auckland Council spends $5 billion every year. Where is it going?”
Light said he loves Auckland and he enjoys local government.
“I think it’s fantastic. It’s a bit broken in Auckland and we need to fix it, but I think we can do it.
“It is worth fighting for. Some of you will think, ‘this guy has stood before, I’ve seen his face, he’s tried this before’.
“And I will keep trying until council gets what it needs to do and gets it done and I will not stop until that has happened.”
Jensen described himself as a husband, father, and business owner.
He said he’s from Zimbabwe, where one day “armed forces” picked him up from school and took him home to see his family at gunpoint.
“We were told, ‘you’ve got 24 hours to leave the country’. That wasn’t possible, so we went into hiding. My family applied for jobs all over the world.”
People in New Zealand offered his family employment.
Their kindness changed his life and ever since then he’s felt a responsibility to give back to the community that welcomed his family with open arms, he said.
“Inspired by that kindness and the support I received, I believe a disciplined leadership, as outlined by those before me, can deliver that same sense of community pride.
“Right now, I believe there’s a disconnected between the council and the community.
“The rates are up more than ever. Families, retirees, everybody is struggling with the cost of living.
“Yet the council seems to come back for more and more and more.”
Jensen said infrastructure has been left in the Dark Ages and rubbish and waste are piling up.
“We’re paying more and getting less. Council has become increasingly illogical in its decisions … and wasting money that I think should be going to core services.
“This needs to change. I’m standing to be your councillor and my focus is pretty simple.
“I’ll fight to deliver the basics through three priorities.”
He said the council needs to listen and only then can it deliver clean communities, safer streets and fairer rates.
Johnston said the most important thing about the mayoral job is that the candidate is qualified.
He said it’s important for a mayor to turn up, and “if they don’t turn up now, will they ever turn up when you need them?”
“The most important thing is competence. You go to get your car fixed, you don’t care what they look like, where they’re from, as long as they turn up, and [mayor Wayne] Brown obviously thinks he can not even turn up and take your vote.
“He thinks you’re silly. Well, all I can say to you is, ‘don’t prove him right.’
“I would not vote for anybody who can’t even be bothered turning up. This is the fourth meeting I’ve been to. He’s never turned up to any.
“You need competence. You need someone who has policies. I’ve read Brown’s policies – it’s like more aims than policies.”
Dahche said he’s standing to be a Howick ward councillor with ACT Local.
He’s called east Auckland home since 1998. He attended Howick College and his first job was at KFC Botany.
He’s a member of the Somerville Intermediate School board of trustees.
“My career took me overseas, leading teams that kept hospitals, schools, and critical services running through natural disasters, pandemics and major emergencies.
“I was proud to be recognised globally for the work I’ve done.
“But I chose to come home, because when the place that raised you needs help, you don’t sit on the sidelines, you step up.
“What I came back to is what you have been seeing for years. Roads with potholes, rates going up, while services are going down.
“Decisions being made by people who don’t live here, don’t stop here, and don’t drive on these roads.
“A council that feels too big, too slow, and too disconnected. That’s not good enough.
“If you elect me, I’ll focus on the basics that matter to you and your family.
“Fixing roads, footpaths, and drains, instead of wasting money on vanity projects.
“Backing local business by cutting red tape and encouraging investment here at home.”
Leoni acknowledged the presence of Maurice Williamson and Sharon Stewart, the local board members and the audience, before immediately talking about the “concern and appalling behaviour” by mayor Wayne Brown.
“That he has not even made the effort to come to any of the meet-the-candidates [events].
“We have gone to meet-the-candidates [events] all the way up Wellsford.
“We’re travelling around the city and none of us should be elected unless we’re accountable to Aucklanders and able to talk about our policies, and Aucklanders be able to ask questions about that.”
Leoni said she has a three-point plan which includes bringing vision back to the city, because Auckland has the highest unemployment rate, the economy is low, and rates are high.
“We need to have vision for the city, we need transparency, and we need to have accountability, and I believe we need to have dashboards with a breakdown of all of our costs.”
- This is part one of a series of stories on the candidates’ event in Howick.
- Disclosure: Bo Burns is the owner of the Eastern Times.
