{"id":110332,"date":"2025-10-31T08:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/110332\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T08:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T08:23:13","slug":"mayor-wayne-brown-sets-out-plan-to-turn-auckland-into-global-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/110332\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Wayne Brown sets out plan to turn Auckland into global city"},"content":{"rendered":"

He was speaking in the Great Hall at the Auckland Town Hall, where he received the mayoral chains, and Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson and the 19 other councillors were sworn into office.<\/p>\n

\" Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown during Auckland Council inauguration ceremony for the new council, held at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

After being elected in 2022 on five policies \u2013 stop wasting money, finish big infrastructure projects, take back control of council organisations, speed up traffic and get more from the harbour \u2013 Brown outlined five new policies for his second, and final, term.<\/p>\n

They are:<\/p>\n

Upgrading transport in Auckland<\/a> from appalling to quite good.Getting consensus on a new intensification plan for the city and stopping the building of homes on floodplains.A sharper focus on economic growth for Auckland.Making the city centre<\/a> more inviting for business and leisure activities.Getting a \u201ccity deal\u201d across the line with the Government.<\/p>\n

Brown said this last policy was an opportunity for the Government to start treating Auckland with the respect it is due.<\/p>\n

The mayor delivered several pointed messages to the Government, noting the upcoming general election and urging the Government to recognise Auckland\u2019s strategic importance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government is pushing us to have more greenfields, but, other than Drury, that\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n

\" Mayor Wayne Brown during the Auckland Council inauguration ceremony for the new council, held at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo \/ Dean Purcell\" New councilors Bo Burns and Victoria Short during tonight’s Auckland Council inauguration ceremony for the new council, held at the Auckland Town Hall. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must change Auckland from the world\u2019s largest suburb to a global city<\/a>. It\u2019s already embarrassingly known as the city of sprawl. It\u2019s not economical and it\u2019s not environmental. I want an efficient, green city,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

The mayor also reiterated his message to Wellington for a bed night levy, which Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and ministers have refused to agree to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will get it. It makes sense for a global city. I had a chuckle yesterday when [new Wellington Mayor] Andrew Little announced that he wants one for Wellington. Watch this space,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n

The mayor also cast his mind back to the major flooding events of 2023, saying the city, including himself, wasn\u2019t prepared.<\/p>\n

\"WayneWayne Brown (left) has been pushing Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for a bed night levy and city deal. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we weathered the storm<\/a> in more ways than one \u2026 Three years on, we\u2019ve made improvements. Weather forecasters have now improved, so much so that they have predicted [all] of the last three downpours. Our emergency management is now better.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur new plan change will stop the building of homes on floodplains, and we have a future fund to provide help for the next disaster,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

The inauguration, attended by the 21 elected members and their families, council officials and dignitaries, was a mix of formal proceedings and multicultural performances.<\/p>\n

The evening began with the p\u016bt\u0101tara call and kaikaranga from Ng\u0101ti Wh\u0101tua \u014cr\u0101kei<\/a> to welcome attendees, followed by karakia and mihi. Ng\u0101ti Tamaoho then responded.<\/p>\n

Following the swearing in and Brown\u2019s speech, there were performances by the Samoan cultural performance group Tatau Manaia, Rangitoto College\u2019s Chinese Traditional Dance Club and up-and-coming vocalist Temaleti Tupou singing the national anthem.<\/p>\n

\"WayneWayne Brown at his celebration event with new councillor Victoria Short at the Westend Tennis Club after being re-elected as Auckland’s mayor. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n

It was extra special for the five new councillors around the council table this term:<\/p>\n

Bo Burns, who won one of the two Howick seats. It was vacated by long-serving councillor Sharon Stewart.Victoria Short, who unseated councillor Wayne Walker for one of the two Albany seats.Matt Winiata, who won one of the two Manurewa-Papakura seats. It was vacated by two-term councillor and Manurewa local board member Angela Dalton.John Gillon, who won one of the two North Shore seats. It was vacated by long-serving councillor Chris Darby.Sarah Paterson-Hamlini, a Whau local board member who replaced Whau councillor Kerrin Leoni, who stood for the mayoralty and did not seek re-election in the ward.<\/p>\n

The full council by wards:<\/p>\n

Albany \u2013 Victoria Short*, John Watson<\/p>\n

Albert-Eden-Puket\u0101papa \u2013 Julie Fairey, Christine Fletcher<\/p>\n

Franklin \u2013 Andy Baker<\/p>\n

Howick \u2013 Jo Burns*, Maurice Williamson<\/p>\n

Manukau \u2013 Alf Filipaina, Lotu Fuli<\/p>\n

Manurewa-Papakura \u2013 Daniel Newman, Matt Winiata*<\/p>\n

Maungakiekie-T\u0101maki \u2013 Josephine Bartley<\/p>\n

North Shore \u2013 John Gillon*, Richard Hills<\/p>\n

\u014cr\u0101kei \u2013 Desley Simpson<\/p>\n

Rodney \u2013 Greg Sayers<\/p>\n

Wait\u0101kere \u2013 Shane Henderson, Ken Turner<\/p>\n

Waitemat\u0101 and Gulf \u2013 Mike Lee<\/p>\n

Whau -\u2013Sarah Paterson-Hamlin*<\/p>\n

*New councillors<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He was speaking in the Great Hall at the Auckland Town Hall, where he received the mayoral chains,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,6256,12974,2199,19555,71,1437,79126,296,19136,10934,9097,111,43,139,69,3111,2170,3048,1973,9345,17294,1961,61,664,3542,17450],"class_list":["post-110332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-brown","tag-change","tag-city","tag-evening","tag-from","tag-global","tag-inauguration","tag-into","tag-largest","tag-mayor","tag-must","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-plan","tag-said","tag-sets","tag-speech","tag-suburb","tag-this","tag-to","tag-turn","tag-wayne","tag-worlds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}