{"id":121959,"date":"2025-11-07T00:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/121959\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T00:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:02:11","slug":"auckland-mayor-wayne-brown-rewards-his-trusted-councillors-simon-wilson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/121959\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown rewards his trusted councillors \u2013 Simon Wilson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Baker<\/a>, from Franklin, has been reappointed as chairman of the transport, resilience and infrastructure committee.<\/p>\n

The deputy position was held last term by Christine Fletcher from Albert-Eden-Puket\u0101papa. Fletcher has lost that job in favour of Shane Henderson from Wait\u0101kere.<\/p>\n

These two committees are Brown\u2019s big \u201ccommittees of the whole\u201d. Their membership includes the mayor, all councillors and two members of Houkura, the Independent M\u0101ori Statutory Board. Many of the big debates and most important decisions happen during their meetings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll chair positions in committees have been given to councillors who have demonstrated significant leadership and collaboration capabilities last term,\u201d Brown said today.<\/p>\n

\u201cTransport reform and a new plan for housing intensification mean we have some decisions ahead that will have a huge impact on how and where people live.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad to have councillor Andy Baker and councillor Richard Hills chairing those committees. I have positioned councillors to make the most of their skills and experience. I\u2019ve thought very carefully about getting the knowledge in the right places.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CouncillorCouncillor Andy Baker (right) leaving the council inauguration ceremony in the town hall last month with councillor Bo Burns. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

In other important transport roles, Brown is recommending to the council that it reappoint Maurice Williamson of Howick to the board of Auckland Transport, with Henderson joining him to replace Chris Darby, who has retired.<\/p>\n

And for the three council appointments to the new Auckland Regional Transport Committee, Brown is recommending Baker, Williamson and Henderson.<\/p>\n

Brown appointed Mike Lee of Waitemat\u0101 to the Auckland Transport board last term, but then removed him. Lee does not have any transport responsibilities at the start of the first term. Lee has retained his role chairing the Auckland Domain committee.<\/p>\n

Brown has also ignored the appeal of Dalton last term, that women should not be excluded from transport roles. Her argument was that most public transport users are women, and their transport needs are often different from men\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Brown said today that he wanted a forward-focused council.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinishing the fix in transport and housing and other infrastructure bits and pieces means we will have a more physically resilient region,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we must also have a greater focus on strengthening the financial resilience of our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, from \u014cr\u0101kei, has been reappointed to chair the value for money committee, a position from which she oversaw savings of $600 million during the last term.<\/p>\n

Her deputy is new councillor Victoria Short, from Albany.<\/p>\n

Greg Sayers from Rodney has been reappointed chairman of the budget committtee. It is also a committee of the whole, but it meets only a couple of times a year. The council also has dozens of budget-related workshops, which he will also chair. Williamson is his deputy, replacing Henderson.<\/p>\n

Among the mayor\u2019s more outspoken critics, John Watson of Albany has lost the deputy chairmanship of the audit and risk committee. <\/p>\n

\"CouncillorCouncillor John Watson making the hang loose sign above Wayne Brown at their swearing in ceremony last month. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

Alf Filipaina of Manukau, also a frequent critic of the mayor, has not been given any major roles, but he does become chair of the civil defence and emergency management committee.<\/p>\n

In what is thought to be a first, the Houkura chair has been appointed to a leadership role on a council committee. David Taipari will be the deputy chairman of the appointments and review committee, with Manurewa-Papakura\u2019s Daniel Newman in the chair.<\/p>\n

Fairey replaces Dalton as chair of the community committee, which oversees grants to sporting, cultural and other community groups. Both Wait\u0101kere councillors, Henderson and Ken Turner, have been appointed to the new Wait\u0101kere Ranges Heritage Area Forum. Whau\u2019s Sarah Paterson-Hamlin takes on the chief councillor role with the council\u2019s community advisory panels. <\/p>\n

The CCO direction and oversight committee has been abolished, now that Brown and the council have reduced the independent scope of the \u201ccouncil-controlled organisations\u201d. <\/p>\n

The base salary of a councillor is $121,319. Those chairing a committee of the whole receive $158,819, and their deputies $148,120. Chairs of smaller committees are paid $143,509.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s salary is $318,616.<\/p>\n

Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Baker, from Franklin, has been reappointed as chairman of the transport, resilience and infrastructure committee. The deputy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,6256,5205,26519,15559,293,29137,685,10934,3025,111,16652,43,139,69,85540,16554,46231,3599,6037,1335,2846,85539,3542,6038],"class_list":{"0":"post-121959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-auckland","9":"tag-brown","10":"tag-council","11":"tag-councillors","12":"tag-elected","13":"tag-his","14":"tag-keeping","15":"tag-last","16":"tag-mayor","17":"tag-most","18":"tag-new-zealand","19":"tag-newly","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-newzealand","22":"tag-nz","23":"tag-relied","24":"tag-rewarded","25":"tag-rewards","26":"tag-roles","27":"tag-simon","28":"tag-term","29":"tag-them","30":"tag-trusted","31":"tag-wayne","32":"tag-wilson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121959","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=121959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}