Mayor says 'Sorry, Auckland is a dog'

Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey feels Auckland owes the rest of NZ an apology. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Helen Clark said it to Samoa, Kevin Rudd said it to the stolen generation - and now it's Auckland's turn to say sorry.

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey thinks the soon-to-be super city has something to get off its chest.

"Auckland owes New Zealand a real apology for dropping the ball for the past 50 years," he said. "On one of the world's greatest landscapes, we created a mess. Basically, Auckland is a dog."

But nobody is demanding the apology that Harvey appears to be so keen to deliver.

Harvey said petty squabbles had stifled what should have been an economic powerhouse and held the country back. "And that's why we need to say to New Zealand, 'Sorry, we've really stuffed up, and now we have a chance to get it right'."

Harvey made the call for a region-wide mea culpa in a written report to Waitakere City Council.

In it, he said Auckland should say sorry for "years of chronic waste and disorganisation" and "decades of feudal squabbling that pulled New Zealand back when it should have been steaming ahead".

Other transgressions included inflicting "waste, crime and poverty on its own people".

But it's not enough to just 'fess up: the region should also promise to pay its own way and "blame no one but ourselves for our problems".

Auckland Mayor John Banks did agree, at least, that the region had "never covered itself in glory".

"Auckland has been dragging the chain in an economic sense," he said.

But now was the chance to get things right, not to lay blame.

"In these times of economic recession, it's time for the country to pull together."

Wellington's Kerry Prendergast said Auckland could skip the apology, but the country was waiting with anticipation for real change.

"We look forward to them working and pulling together - that will help the rest of us."

Even Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt - who once wore the mayoral chains in Waitemata - said he didn't need apologies or promises either.

Auckland more than made up for its indiscretions in entertainment value, he said.

"It makes the rest of us feel great that we don't have all those problems," he said.

"We don't have any traffic jams in Invercargill."

And if Auckland sorted itself out, "we wouldn't have anyone to pick on and blame".