Left take up reins of power

By ANNE BESTON and BERNARD ORSMAN

Memories of John Banks and Gwen Bull were buried yesterday and in their place softer, left-leaning politicians took the chains of office at the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council.

Mike Lee, passionate, fiery and so often on the outer, was elected ARC chairman. Hours later, Dick Hubbard was sworn in as the 38th Mayor of Auckland City, with City Vision leader Dr Bruce Hucker as his deputy.

Centre-left politicians of all hues now control city hall and the ARC chamber, ending decades of almost continuous rule by the National Party ticket of Citizens & Ratepayers, which cosied up to Act and became C&R Now.

The handover came 12 days after voters took revenge on ARC chairwoman Gwen Bull for unpopular rates rises and rejected Mr Banks' abrasive style.

At last night's swearing-in ceremony at the Aotea Centre, Mr Hubbard promised a new era of listening to the concerns of people and displaying the "beautiful" Maori saying, "He Tangata, He Tangata, He Tangata", at the council entrance. Translated, it means "It is people, it is people, it is people".

"The saying sums up my leadership style," said Mr Hubbard.

Mr Lee also made the point of listening more closely to people, saying ARC meetings would start with a public forum and be shifted from their usual 4pm timeslot to 6pm to "allow more working people to attend".

Mr Lee, an ARC member for all but three of the past 13 years and once married to former Cabinet minister Sandra Lee, did not mess about making a start. He said the ARC would take the legislative lead in protecting the Waitakere Ranges - a dig at the dilly-dallying of the Waitakere City Council.

Former Rodney councillor Christine Rose, after nine years on local bodies, was elected his deputy. Centre-left councillors filled the major committee chairs: Sandra Coney, parks and heritage; Joel Cayford, transport; Wyn Hoadley, finance; and Paul Walbran, regional strategy and planning.

In Auckland City, the centre-left was swept into office for the first time since the Labour term of 1935-1938. The council has six City Vision members under Dr Hucker, three Labour members under Richard Northey, and independent Faye Storer. City Vision is a rainbow of left-leaning politicians, from Alliance activist Cathy Casey, Green member Neil Abel to centrist Vern Walsh, a former Citizens & Ratepayer member and contender as finance committee chair.

Although the centre-left is one vote short of an absolute majority on the 20-member council, the City Vision-Labour team can count on Mr Hubbard, philosophically more aligned to the centre-left than the centre-right, to implement many of its policies. The two Action Hobson councillors, Christine Caughey and Richard Simpson, can also be counted on to dump the eastern highway, put greater emphasis on public transport, boost urban design and strengthen heritage matters.

Where City Vision and Labour might struggle is their rating and financial programme. Plans to axe a uniform annual charge and a fixed user-pays charge for rubbish will lead to rates cuts for more than 100,000 low and medium-value property owners but could face opposition from Action Hobson, whose ratepayers in Parnell, Remuera and Epsom will get hefty increases.

Another City Vision promise, bringing $74 million in wastewater charges currently collected by Metrowater back into general rates, faces philosophical opposition from the Greens and a huge public relations job.