Alliance president to contest Auckland mayoralty

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Alliance president Matt McCarten has thrown his hat into the ring for the Auckland City mayoralty to ensure that there is a centre-left candidate, and to also boost the fortunes of his party.

Mr McCarten's eleventh-hour nomination followed a decision yesterday by the leader of the Labour-Alliance City Vision ticket, Dr Bruce Hucker, not to seek the mayoralty.

Nominations for the local council and district health board elections on October 13 close at noon today.

Dr Hucker said standing against sitting Mayor Christine Fletcher would have run the risk of splitting the vote and allowing John Banks to come through the middle.

"John Banks' politics are not my politics and more to the right [of Mrs Fletcher]. That is something I did not think was in the welfare of this city," Dr Hucker said.

Mr McCarten said the Alliance, as distinct from City Vision, did not have any qualms about vote-splitting and wanted to give voters a choice between two former National ministers, Mrs Fletcher and Mr Banks.

"It is important that there is a clear centre-left alternative in Auckland and I and the Alliance will run a strong campaign based on the ownership of public assets like water and the ports, and setting up a single transport authority in charge of roads, buses and rail."

The Auckland mayoralty will be the first time that Mr McCarten has stood for public office.

A stutter has done nothing to hold back the 42-year-old Aucklander and former president of the Service Workers' Union, who came forward at an Alliance meeting last night.

The decision is part of a plan to increase the profile of the Alliance in Auckland, where the party has historically done well at local body elections.

The Alliance is hoping this will rub off in the national polls, where it has been stuck on about 3 per cent for the past three months.

It also a chance for the Alliance to take on the Green Party, which has eight candidates for the Auckland City Council and community boards, including Metiria Turei, a 31-year-old resource management lawyer, who is standing for the mayoralty.

Mrs Fletcher is riding on the $200 million Britomart transport project - what she calls the "circuit-breaker" for a new $1.2 billion Auckland-wide public transport system - to get re-elected.

High-profile councillor Victoria Carter, who was rejected by the new centre-right Citizens & Ratepayers and Auckland Now joint venture, has announced a new ticket, Team Auckland, to stand in the Hobson ward.

Ms Carter has been joined by Alex Swney and Stephen Goodman, also spurned by the joint venture, to seek the three council seats in Hobson.

Feature: Local body elections 2001