Wayne Brown hasn't ruled out second tilt at Auckland mayoralty

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown hasn't ruled out running in next year's local elections, saying his mission to "fix" the city isn't yet complete.
Brown is also questioned about the viability of his idea to build another bridge across Auckland's Waitematā Harbour, and what he wants out of a city deal with the Government.
Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

[@chrisrutherfurd9338]

The biggest problem New Zealand faces is whenever a proposal is made to build something people start complaining and whining and knocking the idea and those who propose it down.

[@williamahn7093]

I am an immigrant, and it is a NZ culture to oppose everything without giving an alternative option. I kinda like the mayor because he does experimenting before implementing something new. There is nothing wrong with that.

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

These days thats the New Zealand way.Never use to be.

[@lewiswood1693]

and the worst part is these same people who knock the idea provide no good alternative

[@pinkybar7328]

@@lewiswood1693 yes sounds like labour/greens,no idea at all

[@lewiswood1693]

@@pinkybar7328 National act and particularly NZ first does this as well. They are all guilty. Tbh I think that the past labour government did at least try to have research behind many of their decisions. Though they failed to even approach the biggest issues of this country which was a epic fail (over investment in property, uncompetitive tax system, deindustrialization, brain drain)

[@YoungElevated]

"It's not about the people on Pt Chev its about the people of Auckland." The more I listen, the more I like Wayne Browne. Fixing problems logically.

[@Sam-re8od]

But result wise he showed the flooding event response from him was bad… might be all talks with no action

[@murrayclarke2171]

@@Sam-re8odthe media completely screwed him on those floods. He’d literally just started. Sure his comms weren’t great but he was hung out to dry.

[@Sam-re8od]

@@murrayclarke2171 nah nah he was busy playing tennis

[@user-eq4ik9qh6r]

He's a useless public speaker,but i like him.The only mayor to do something against AT.

[@nevillehill5210]

Yes he’s not a slick act when it comes to public speaking, but that’s a ‘plus’ in my books

[@roballen5720]

Didn't vote for him last time, but I would likely vote for him next. Happy to admit I was wrong.

[@Sam-re8od]

He did bad for the flooding event though

[@jacobwinn2765]

@@Sam-re8odanyone would have. The storm just exposed the shitty city planning and poor emergency management that had been in place before he got there.

[@nevillehill5210]

@@jacobwinn2765- that’s true

[@wilfscovell336]

@@Sam-re8odits not his fault it rained he’s not God just the mayor

[@willturbot1044]

@@Sam-re8od Yawn.

[@DossNZ]

He's the safest pair of hands we've had for as long as my ancient self can remember. Still, I take my hat off to mrs brown.

[@frederickmiles327]

The other Brown, Len did stand up to the puritans and regressives for a while . The John Banks mayoral term was a terrible disaster of motorways building and relentless attempts to close exiting bars, exciting brothels and strip clubs. The Banks council and Act Party were strictly idiots representing the gays, puritans, Chinese and grounds will infestation. Banks idiocy also stopped the cranes moving and 40 years of progress which saw Auckland recreated as a 20 story mirror class high rise strips. Banksby restricting construction of small flats and hotel rooms on floor space req effectively ended capitalism in Auckland thru shere stupidity

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

@@frederickmiles327 Your reasoning is why Auckland city will just flounder along and get nowhere.The next mayor will may take a different view from Wayne Brown.Wayne Brown wont be mayor forever.The Labour or Left thinking mayors just wanted to borrow,borrow,borrow ending up with the Auckland ratepayer footing the bill today and forever.Wayne Brown is working hard to keep rates low.Would've you like to live in Wellington with their rate increases.If you are renting it will just get added on to the rent. NO thanks.Or perhaps Invercargill or Westland.Check the figures ? Costs will just keep increasing for sure?

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

Absolutely.We dont need Phil Gough or Len Brown back.All they did was to increase Auckland city and Auckland ratepayer debt.Wayne Brown is working to keep Auckland rates low.Nothing wrong with that.Phil Gough and Len Brown just wanted to keep borrowing.Auckland ratepayers are paying the price now still.

[@MayorWayneBrown]

Good chat Jack. Appears we are both suckers for punishment - me with council meetings and you with your opera.

[@dimvoly]

Keep up the great work, Mayor

[@stevehall5863]

Really? A bridge to no where?

[@dimvoly]

@@stevehall5863 Once there's a bridge, it'll be to "somewhere". When the current one was built, there wasn't much to go to, but the construction/development really took off afterwards.

[@EvilKiwi76]

Most importantly Mr Brown have you familiarised where the Horowhenua is yet? 😂

[@MayorWayneBrown]

@@EvilKiwi76 Where?

[@Jack01189]

"Its not about the people in Point Chev, its about the people in Auckland." good, now we can start building apartments in Ponsonby, Devonport, and Remuera because its not about the people there its about the greater good of Auckland. we can rebuild the electric trolleybus system , extend railways, and expand all of our infrastructure in the city because its not about the people that live in those places, its about everyone and the greater good. - Can you please use that reasoning everywhere instead of having people in Remuera decide weather its okay or not to build cheap housing, or people in Mt Eden decide the airport tramway should be built underground instead of on the street level.

[@chrismckissack8884]

oh no, we can't do that, by sheer chance, the pipes in only those suburbs are too old and can't handle high intensity housing

[@diyguru9677]

@@chrismckissack8884 Auckland's storm water and sewerage infrastructure is currently been replaced across Auckland. Ironically new pipes are currently being installed in Pt Chev right now.

[@sshhutup]

Easily the best mayor we have had in years. Speaks common sense. Even if he isn’t the most charismatic

[@davidforeman2734]

He got the best line of thinking.

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

Exactly.But the left leaning ideologues want to torpedo that, especially Labour Party and Green Party.The poor fools.

[@savvagrachev2754]

Definitely getting my vote if he runs again! Love the no nonsense, hands on approach he has taken.

[@forhuey]

He should defs run and he will win. I was sceptical of him like many and as a employee of council, cant state how impresssed ive been working for him

[@annahouston9528]

We need more people in power thinking like this!

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

Yes,but they are few and far between.

[@profoundbathroomgraffiti]

this guy is a deprecit old man, what are you talking about...

[@user-rf9ws7hp3e]

💯% agree with you. It’s been far too long since we have had leaders that wanted to spend our taxes wisely.

[@bartwarren8069]

It's straight practical no nonsense, daily life issues to fix.. it's not rocket science

[@A_kiwis_view]

Correct. He is in to power. The power to enforce his ideas, like most politicians.

[@feesullivan3439]

He’s good. 👍🏼

[@nevillehill5210]

WB is a down to earth guy , speaks plainly. He definitely should run for mayor again & I didn’t vote for him

[@stevehughes1510]

Will you next time?

[@bartwarren8069]

His career job was engineer, straight up practical thinking

[@nevillehill5210]

@@stevehughes1510- maybe, see who else is on offer

[@stevehughes1510]

He's the best most commonsense mayor since Sir Dove Myer, way back when. I hope he stands again, he could do a great deal of good with the longer run, and hopefully, get someone alongside him to take over when he stands down in the end.

[@robertmariu6783]

Bridge is just sensible !

[@nevillehill5210]

Definitely, building a tunnel under the Harbour would be a colossal undertaking costing many times what a bridge would and many times longer to build

[@trevorjohnston4497]

With you WB .. clear thinking.

[@nickwilliams5728]

VOTE WAYNE BROWN!

[@willturbot1044]

Pragmatic,intelligent mayor. Wish we had one in Wellington.

[@MatthewGriffiths]

Very good! His proposal makes sense. I hope this happens!

[@morgan_kemp]

Auckland has the best Mayor!

[@geecee1288]

Jack wasn’t able to play his gotcha journalism here!

[@jamesstewart2993]

spot on,Mr Bowns to smart.

[@mattheweden-pc5pk]

Jack thinks he is away right, not this time

[@marcgalle3529]

Jack has a obligation to ask the hard questions and not pander to the status quo like the normal journalistic sycophants

[@Marysuegg]

Hes got my vote!

[@Steve-z3b]

He is a great mayor.

[@sonpollo8995]

One of the few people in government with a brain.

[@gerryboulieris8133]

We need a Wayne Brown in wellington

[@J.Smith-rc6wh]

like night and day between two mayors, and Wayne is day

[@stevehughes1510]

For sure, it's a Green shite hole right now, thank God I don't live there. All the best.

[@user-rf9ws7hp3e]

WB make a whole lot of sense to me. I like his frugal attitude to my tax dollars ✅

[@muhammadsadiq8579]

I love the people,who think about other people, like WB He is trying his best to control the waste of public money , Please vote for him again for at least 10 more years

[@johnmac777]

Well said Mr Brown.

[@blusheen378]

He sorts out a huge city, get things done. People do like him now. Less complaints. Wellington, a very small city. It seems the present mayor and councilors have stuffed it up big time. So people don't like them and say the city is dying. N Zealanders are smart, they look for results; can do, get things done. In Wellington, nothing is done, the bottle necks are now larger and larger. The 81,000 rate payers are taken for sitting ducks with over 20% rate increases, ATM machines, squander whatever money they can from them. Sadly, it will take 10-15 years for the next leader to tidy things up. We truly get what we voted.

Gosh our rates have raised ridiculously this year. People are really struggling. Except for that Mr Brown knows what he is talking about.

[@susanpockett4314]

"Except for that"?? I live on an island 23 km across the harbour from downtown and haven't even BEEN to Auckland in literally years. Why am I being charged anarmanaleg for all these extra bridges or tunnels or whatever?

[@skiracingkid11]

He's a bit quirky but his head is in the right place.

[@wilfscovell336]

Wayne👍

[@timeflowtap]

Wayne brown for prime minister

[@stephens896]

Ladies and gentleman, the Mayor of Auckland 😮

[@nzsolel5284]

Real legend makes real sense

[@jesahnorrin]

I like him much more than our useless PM. i didn't like him at the start, but he's proven to be a steady set of hands with common sense.

[@carloselias9697]

People always going to agree and disagree Plan long term projects and get it done It’s impossible to make everyone happy.

[@rosslarsen7993]

Still a better drunk than tori whanau, at least he makes you laugh

[@andrewoh1663]

We need Wayne for at least another term: He's a breath of fresh air after the previous idiot mayors! That said, he's lost the plot a bit regarding bridges. A bridge over Meola reef is going to take exactly who going where? The future scope of work for a new bridge would be to simply replace the existing one once it's beyond its use-by date. IOW put it alongside the existing bridge and split the traffic flow once completed, leaving one old clip-on lane for pedestrian/cycling. It needs to be born in mind that the harbour bridge is a national asset whose priority was reduced once the SH18 bypass was completed by the Key government. Where he's correct is the cost of a tunnel: The studies were done over a decade ago and found it's a non-starter because of the topology along the proposed route.

[@JohnDoe-wh8fk]

Send the Opera to Horowhenua 😬

[@Spright91]

I dont like him but fair play to the idea. I would prefer spending that money on better public transport but im sick of us flipping to one idea then the other. Lets just pick one and stick with it.

[@J.Smith-rc6wh]

Luxon should pull him aside in a quiet meeting and say " run again and I will recommend you for a knighthood mate" best most common sense Mayor Auckland has ever had

[@jeoffrym5860]

WB for president and prime minister

[@mattheweden-pc5pk]

Wayne is definitely the right man for Auckland, wish he would run the Wellington council He understands how to make money and how to spend it correctly, the mayor of Wellington is not up to running a ice cream stand

[@fredkelly6953]

He points a lot of things out but there are still road cones ensuring the safety of other road cones out there. He's not finished by a long shot.

[@JazzfireflyNZ]

This grumpy old guy is hilarious. He exudes chaos and unfriendliness. Amazing that he's been put in a leadership role.

[@anubisgod23]

Jack Tame has to be one of the most dishonest and unintelligent ""journalists"" I've ever seen.

[@mattheweden-pc5pk]

He’s been drinking the lefty ada

[@lfg4823]

Agreed safest pair of hands who can make the hard decisions

[@adsdft585]

Denmark to Germany tunnel is 17 km at cost of 10 billion euro.

[@kieranmacdonald83]

I terribly shocked the Mayor doesn’t know what the NZDF land is for. It the NZDF armaments depot. It’s the storage and import facilities for the ammunition for the defence fore. There is a reason it’s there and a reason it appears empty

[@TheBeaker59]

Correct however its 99% redundant and no reason it could not be somewhere else, considering the storage has been many other places over the last hundred or so years.

[@kieranmacdonald83]

The reason it is there is it allows ammunition to be unloaded and loaded directly without the logic nightmare of road transport of ammunition, especially for the Navy due to the limits of ammunition allowed to be transported on NZ roads. Yes it could go somewhere else but somewhere else with a deep water port and space around that port to allow a safe zone. How many billions would that cost to set up. But my real point is I’m shocked the Mayor doesn’t seem to know what is in his city.

[@TheBeaker59]

@@kieranmacdonald83 How much ammunition do you believe our navy uses and we have many places just as good if not much better. Its a bit of an assumption to think the mayor isn't aware of this.

[@bmwhocking]

@@TheBeaker59it’s a lot more complex that supply ship offload and storage. Every time a navy ship comes home, it unloads ammunition stores at Kauri point before going to dock at Davenport. Means the ships can undergo maintenance without hundreds of tons of high explosive onboard. If Kauri point is moved, it massively complicated the navy’s operations & could easily mean Davenport also having to move, which could easily cost far more than any new crossing, tunnel or bridge. In all seriousness where could it move to. Wellington’s earthquake risk would basically rule out large scale ammunition storage. Littleton has no spare dock space & the harbour shape would amplify any explosion shockwave. Whangarei likely isn’t keen to hand 1/3 of their harbour over to the navy. Moving it to Tauranga would likely mean closing the port of Tauranga. Finally, the amazing thing about Kauri points the shape of the surrounding land and hills shelf’s the rest of Auckland if an explosion occurred. Vs most harbours geography would amplify the blast wave hitting other surrounding areas.

[@twofacedmctwoface4876]

Get rid of Jack Tame is the first step... and bring on a more intelligent interviewer...

[@november50]

Is the land on the Northcote side of the mayor's proposal, where the naval munitions storage is?

[@murrayclarke2171]

Does Jack own a house in Point Chev or is it his producer? The only thing he didn’t object with was Iwi consultation.

[@adriandocherty778]

This guy thinks we can’t see the BS. Sold off airport assets which is under construction. Building a bridge to prime realestate u can sell off but I guarantee it’s on heritage and or Maori land which you’ll try use those Tasman enabling acts. If u built a hospital and an engineer. U plan for a bridge but no road plan??🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️

[@AnnSmith-u9c]

Let’s be realistic. Auckland traffic will only get worse and worse and more congested probably until it’s at a standstill most times most days and then just more congested. It might take another ten or twenty years but no new bridge/ tunnel/ motorway/ railway will ever unlock it. We just have to many people and a city that has suffered from poor and challenging design and development for decades. With infill housing , intensification and lack of off street parking clogging our communities it will rapidly get worse. AT , with the use of speed bumps , raised platform crossings, pedestrian traffic lights, cycle lanes, in-lane bus stops ( te atatu rd ) etc , are purposely making it inconvenient and unattractive to drive anywhere in an effort to push public transport. If we could have a new bridge and tunnel and more motorways and railways , all of them , all in five years max , that could make a difference? And Auckland council is supposed to have committed to halving the emissions by 2030 😂 Sorry, but we’re doomed Until flying cars. Your welcome.

[@anne-mareeosborne8718]

Motat is in need of an overhaul and the city needs cleaning and more colour..it's dull

[@mauic3884]

Have to say I didn’t vote for him, but his unvarnished public speaking somehow makes him more credible and less political

[@petertrott5107]

Why are the 20 people in Waitangi Treaty tribunal allowed to interpret the Treaty the way they want to???

[@richardv9648]

Undecided voter here. You need to fire AT boss and his ideological team to get my vote. Its as simple as that. Just pretending you are doing all the right thing and then buddying up and tolerating that wokist is simply not enough Wayne. And for you preety boy Jack, why dont you ever take up regarding the cost with Labour leaders?

[@andrewwakldnz]

Sadly, he isn't legally allowed to dump the AT boss. More's the pity.

[@kathleenlewis1954]

More road cone rubbish

[@stevehall5863]

A BRIDGE TO nowhere. Is this the best he can do? Unfortunately, critical thinking skills reduce with age. Self awareness is hard to come by obviously.

[@Marysuegg]

If we get another labor lefty mayor expect rates to double triple quadruple I can see a point where rates on a small home could be as high as $20,000 a year. Auckland is in a debt spiral we are in big big trouble and the media don't seem to care

[@lowtech_1]

Meanwhile , South and West auckland get Congestion Taxes because there motorways are most congested.

that is why your rates and taxes are less

[@lowtech_1]

Congestion are to be charged on the motorways. Funding.Revenue from petrol excise duty (PED), road user charges (RUC), registration and licensing goes into the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF).

[@marcgalle3529]

Actually support Browns tighter fiscal governance and kicking AUT into touch. However like 99.9% of NZ leaders he is well out of his depth. What a sad little country it is now

[@anne-mareeosborne8718]

To late,pukekohe and surrounding areas and already congested..the problem is you build and do roads last..Waiuku needs 4 lanes as Puke..and now motorway needs extra lane already

[@rp7784]

Building more roads or adding more lanes will not solve congestion, it only makes it worse.

[@anne-mareeosborne8718]

@@rp7784 not where I live

[@rp7784]

@@anne-mareeosborne8718 No, that phenomenon occurs everywhere. It's known as "induced demand". When you build more roads or lanes on the promise that it will decrease congestion and save time, it encourages more people to drive. People who use the bus, or the train, or who rideshare are enticed to drive in order to take advantage of the benefit. Eventually you realise that you have spent millions of dollars on that extra bit of capacity only for congestion to return or become worse. Not only that but now it's only furthered people's reliance on car's, which are expensive and inefficient. Roads also have the double negative of encouraging Urban Sprawl which has a multitude of consequences on it's own. Auckland is a classic example of induced demand over the past decades. The US is the poster child of poor transport planning, and unfortunately NZ has mimicked alot of American Transport policies.

[@wirihanagardiner729]

We have a constitution and a leader WHY DO WE NEED BRITISH colonial government 🤬

[@junglistnate]

Hes done nothing about AT's mess in Akl CBD and around Auckland, city of snails, no parking, slums

[@campaterson5246]

I’d like them to consider like to consider building a tunnel only for rail to Northcote and ran rail up the northern motorway to Warkworth with regular stops. Then they could stop buses going across the bridge.

[@bradleycoe6972]

so you would destroy a nature reserve and meola reef.

[@thebuildreview]

Money waster Mr Brown? How much money has Auckland Council wasted on projects that never materialised? Millions and millions of tax and rate payers money. Optimise Auckland Transport aka Auckland Council. It's disappointing how inefficient this council is.

[@paulmiller591]

The bridge is a central government expense, so why is he involved? Fix AT, reduce our rates, and eliminate council waste, all of which you were elected to do. Value capture does not fund bridges because you don't get an uplift from building them.

[@dionhepi912]

what a big waffle of bs

[@mecinastanbury3846]

Fuck the opera every school kid should be able to pay $5 to go to motat

[@stephens896]

This bloke is our Joe Biden

[@A_kiwis_view]

Politicians score high on narcissistic tenden. Our Mayor wants to make policies permanent, rather dictatorial?

[@A_kiwis_view]

tendencies

[@desmondfrost1763]

Desmond here he is rambling on its time for him to go Auckland people let's change for a better Auckland that's what I will be doing no doubt in my mind

[@desmondfrost1763]

Desmond here we need a new mayor someone young who has better ideas not an ex mayor I will be voting him. Out

[@jtonline99]

He hasn’t been a complete disaster, but on a whole no thanks. Just like Luxon, all sound bites, no action…

[@jizzlipps]

what would you prefer?

[@Lee-tj8km]

You sound like a labour voter lol all emotion no logic

[@jtonline99]

@@jizzlipps a talking chimpanzee?

[@jtonline99]

@@Lee-tj8km have to be fuelled by emotion to believe anything Luxon says 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

@@Lee-tj8km No, I think a Green Party supporter.

[@desmondfrost1763]

Desmond here people. Of Auckland let's vote the mayor out we need to put in a mayor with fresh ideas let's vote someone young people of Auckland it's time for a change if we do not do this nothing will change

[@junglistnate]

The land is NOT owned by the government, the land was stolen from indigenous Māori, coloniser governments stole the land. Get it right

[@chriskiwi2601]

There's no indigenous people sport, get it right.

[@junglistnate]

@@chriskiwi2601 Which country did you flee from?

[@raywheeler3135]

Chris kiwi obviously doesn't know how to use a dictionary

[@nevillehill5210]

Yeah , but I bet they’d still use the bridge if it was there

[@rippedup1931]

@@junglistnatein what year did Māori arrive here?

[@codie2035]

Is Jack allowed to talk with this fool?

[@Lee-tj8km]

He’s an engineer. What qualifications do you have?

[@wilfscovell336]

@@Lee-tj8kmexactly

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

Go Wayne Brown

[@Alex-gd9xq]

Wayne seem to have the biggest ego, Harnessing the Boomer arrogant complaining energy. Against woke/ old school is just as annoying was woke. it same thing really. It’s about time he retires but I courses ego won’t let them 🙃

[@mikeThomas-rt3il]

Auckland wants a brown mayor.

[@ShirleyZhang-bt4dj]

No, we need Wayne Brown.

[@Lee-tj8km]

Yes, his name is Wayne “brown”

[@mikeThomas-rt3il]

@@Lee-tj8km exactly my point

[@nevillehill5210]

@@mikeThomas-rt3il😂

[@peter-yy5qy]

@@nevillehill5210 I don't mind a mayor whose name is Brown, but otherwise, yeah nah

[@gustavkierson7444]

Did he say 60 billion. Go back to the rest home buddy.

[@jacobwinn2765]

Look up some of the costings… he’s not far off. And with how past infrastructure building costs have gone in NZ, you really think this is unrealistic? He said anywhere from 20-60+ billion anyway.

[@gustavkierson7444]

@@jacobwinn2765 Did Wayne Brown look up the costings? He goes on to say that without doing the costings it would be only 10% of the cost. Then the magic motorways out of nowhere? And I also appreciate that the comments thread of this video has had one of Wayne Browns staffers working hard on a Sunday.

[@dylanc2860]

lol he's lost his dam mind