Wayne Brown has stormed home to win a second term as Mayor of Auckland, comfortably beating his main challenger, Kerrin Leoni.<\/p>\n
Progress results show Brown secured 146,642 votes – about 90,000 clear of Leoni, who has received 56,612.<\/p>\n
Third place, based on the provisional results, is Ted Johnston, an independent candidate, with 21,661 votes.<\/p>\n
Wayne Brown announces his re-election as Auckland Mayor during a victory speech at Karanga Plaza, Wynyard Quarter. Photo \/ Jason Dorday<\/p>\n
Brown said today his focus was on improving transport, roadworks and the level of construction in the city. He also said he was determined to lift Auckland\u2019s ability to improve the economy.<\/p>\n
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think the finances are in pretty good condition now.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that we\u2019ve got in place the 10 rules on how we spend money the waste will go away. They\u2019ll be less dumb stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Progress results include votes received up until yesterday evening. They do not include special votes or votes received this morning.<\/p>\n Preliminary results will be announced on Monday. They include votes received today, but special votes are still not included.<\/p>\n Final results and official results include all votes, including special votes. They will be released by Friday, October 17.<\/p>\n Brown addressed media at Karanga Plaza on Auckland\u2019s Wynyard Quarter this afternoon with Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson.<\/p>\n He said it was \u201cheartening\u201d to receive the result, labelling it an endorsement from the city for his policies.<\/p>\n He said he was here to \u201cfinish the job that I\u2019ve started\u201d and was \u201crelieved and humbled by the fact that I\u2019ve got an overwhelming support.\u201d<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t quite finished everything I\u2019ve set out to fix.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to getting my hands on AT. It\u2019s taken me three years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most important thing now is to take full advantage of taking control of Auckland Transport.<\/p>\n He said its focus should be on public transport.<\/p>\n He said Auckland\u2019s \u201cbiggest opponent\u201d was Wellington.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need to let us have the ability to make our own decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Brown said his manifesto will include a clear list of things he wants central government to do.<\/p>\n He said there was an exciting year ahead with the City Rail Link due to open, along with the International Convention Centre.<\/p>\n He also referred to the \u201cbiggest planning change in the history of the city\u201d – in reference to the new density rules the council was about to consult on. Brown said putting more housing on main arterial routes was \u201ceminently sensible\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will start putting [houses] where people should be.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the biggest city, it\u2019s going to look like the biggest city and people will be proud to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he would consider another tilt at the mayoralty in three years\u2019 time, Brown said he would fulfil the next term.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think people have voted for me again because they know what they\u2019re going to get. There is no surprises. I do have a clear direction and I will continue and finish it,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n Brown said the campaign Kerrin Leoni ran against him was \u201ca bit personal\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEfeso [Collins] and I never ever spoke badly of each other and became friends, but that hasn\u2019t happened this time.\u201d<\/p>\n Leoni posted on Facebook, \u201cThank you to my whole campaign team. Wayne Brown has won the election with 150k votes and I have 50k with Ted Johnson coming in third with 20k votes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a great campaign and congratulations to all those that have won their seats across our amazing city.\u201d<\/p>\n Ward results<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s victory is not without setbacks. His tactic of fielding Fix Auckland candidates to unseat four councillors he doesn\u2019t like, and to contest one of the two vacant North Shore ward seats, was only partially successful.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n In the Albany ward, Fix Auckland candidate Victoria Short ousted the sitting councillor Wayne Walker, but John Watson was re-elected. Brown dubbed Walker and Watson the \u201cAlbanians\u201d.<\/p>\n In the Manukau ward, long-serving Labour councillor Alf Filipaina and his Labour colleague Lotu Fuli beat the Fix It candidates Luke Mealamu and Vicky Hau.<\/p>\n The spare North Shore seat was won by John Gillon, chair of Kaip\u0101tiki Local Board for eight years. Danielle Grant, who has spent 12 years on the Kaip\u0101tiki Local Board, was unsuccessful as a Fix Auckland candidate.<\/p>\n Richard Hills, touted as a future mayoral candidate on the left, won the other North Shore seat.<\/p>\n In other vacancies on the governing body, the new faces are Bo Burns, elected to the Howick ward, Matt Winiata in Manurewa-Papakura, and Labour\u2019s Sarah Paterson-Hamlin in Whau.<\/p>\n The other sitting councillors re-elected were Julie Fariey and Christine Fletcher (Albert-Eden-Puket\u0101papa), Andy Baker (Franklin), Maurice Williamson (Howick), Daniel Newman (Manurewa-Papakura), Josephine Bartley (Maungakiekie-T\u0101maki), Shane Henderson, Ken Turner (Wait\u0101kere), Mike Lee (Waitemat\u0101 and Gulf)Desley Simpson (\u014cr\u0101kei), and Greg Sayers (Rodney) were elected unopposed.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n The mayor and 20 councillors will be sworn in at an official ceremony in the Auckland Town Hall on October 31.<\/p>\n Deputy on boss\u2019 changes<\/p>\n Desley Simpson, said, \u201cCongrats boss,\u201d as she arrived at the press conference.<\/p>\n Brown jokingly observed she was in the typical \u201csubtle colours\u201d, as she had come straight from the Diwali festival in Auckland\u2019s city centre and was draped in a bright orange top and green scarf.<\/p>\n Simpson said she believed Brown made the biggest \u201ctransformational change\u201d since the super city came into being in 2010.<\/p>\n She cited the Auckland Future Fund and CCO reform.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has made a huge leap in these changes and now people want to see those changes embedded over the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Simpson said the next three years would be a \u201cdot the i\u2019s and cross the t\u2019s kind of term\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI look forward to sharing the role with the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n In a pre-election interview with the Herald\u2019s Simon Wilson, the 79-year-old leader of the country\u2019s largest city said he wanted one more shot \u201cto finish the things I started\u201d.<\/p>\n They include: to fix Auckland\u2019s infrastructure, stop wasting money, get Auckland moving, make the most of Waitemat\u0101 Harbour, and take control of council organisations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe one that I\u2019m most interested in is the AT [Auckland Transport] thing. And I\u2019m only just getting my hands on it\u2026and also the culture of not wasting money is starting to take hold. I think three more years and they\u2019ll stop that, but I won\u2019t do any more after this, that\u2019s for sure, Brown said.<\/p>\n For Leoni, her single term on the Auckland Council as the Labour councillor for Whau is over. She stood as an independent candidate for the mayoralty and did not contest the Whau seat.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Brown won the mayoralty in 2022 as an outsider, seeing off two potential rivals on the right, restaurateur Leo Molloy and Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck, and the left\u2019s Efeso Collins.<\/p>\n He adopted a blunt and combative style early in his first term and faced criticism for his response to Auckland\u2019s devastating storms in early 2023. Since then, however, he has grown into the role and made progress on his \u201cFix Auckland\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n Looking back on the 2023 floods, Brown said: \u201cI wasn\u2019t particularly well prepared. The council wasn\u2019t particularly well prepared. Auckland Emergency Management wasn\u2019t well prepared. The city wasn\u2019t well prepared. I\u2019ve learned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, who considered a tilt at the mayoralty but chose instead to be Brown\u2019s running mate on his \u2018Fix Auckland\u2019 ticket, has been re-elected unopposed and will retain the deputy role.<\/p>\n There was a last-minute flurry of voting before the polls closed today at noon. This morning\u2019s votes were secured and delivered to the Election Services for counting. These votes will contribute to the preliminary results to be announced on Monday.<\/p>\n Low voter turnout<\/p>\n As of yesterday, Auckland\u2019s voter turnout was 23.1%, which is 6 percent less than 2022\u2019s turnout on the eve before the close of voting.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Auckland Council\u2019s General Manager Governance and Engagement, Lou-Ann Ballantyne, was disappointed with the rate of Auckland\u2019s participation despite the council\u2019s efforts to make voting as accessible as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cAnecdotally, we\u2019ve heard people didn\u2019t know who to vote for. And typically, when voters are unsure about candidates or are happy with the status quo, they are likely to abstain from voting, and this could be a reason for the decrease in turnout, said Ballantyne.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no straightforward solution to get more Aucklanders voting,\u201d Ballantyne said.<\/p>\n In 2022, Brown won the mayoral race with a total of 181,810 votes ahead of Efeso Collins by 57,008.<\/p>\n Auckland Council – the progress results<\/p>\n Mayor<\/p>\n Wayne Brown<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Wards:<\/p>\n Albany: Victoria Short* 12,862, John Watson 12,299<\/p>\n Albert-Eden-Puket\u0101papa: Julie Fairey 11,795, Christine Fletcher 12,401<\/p>\n Franklin: Andy Baker 9,289<\/p>\n Howick: Bo Burns* 10,222, Maurice Williamson 9,801<\/p>\n Manukau: Alf Filipaina 10,826, Lotu Fuli 9,611<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Manurewa-Papakura: Daniel Newman 12,965, Matt Winiata*<\/p>\n Maungakiekie-T\u0101maki: Josephine Bartley<\/p>\n North Shore: John Gillon*, Richard Hills<\/p>\n \u014cr\u0101kei: Desley Simpson<\/p>\n Rodney: Greg Sayers<\/p>\n Wait\u0101kere: Shane Henderson, Ken Turner<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Waitemat\u0101 and Gulf: Mike Lee<\/p>\n Whau: Sarah Paterson-Hamlin*<\/p>\n *New councillors<\/p>\nAuckland Mayoral candidate Kerrin Leoni arrives to speak to media during a press conference at Brick Lane restaurant in New Lynn after conceding to Wayne Brown. Photo \/ Jason Dorday.<\/p>\n
Auckland’s deputy mayor Desley Simpson joined Wayne Brown in his press conference from Wynyard Quarter. She had come straight from the Diwali festival in Auckland City Centre. Photo \/ Simon Wilson<\/p>\n
Wayne Brown addressing media at Karanga Plaza, Wynyard Quarter, today after progress results came in re-electing him as Auckland mayor. Photo \/ Jason Dorday.<\/p>\n
Auckland mayoral candidates from left to right: Rob McNeil, Kerrin Leoni, Wayne Brown and Eric Chuah.<\/p>\n
Wayne Brown and Desley Simpson, left, teamed up in June to run under the mayor’s Fix Auckland ticket. <\/p>\n