Paula Bennett chats with Phil Goff in the latest episode of Ask Me Anything. Video / NZ Herald
Auckland mayor Phil Goff is on the way out. The voluntarily soon-to-be ex-mayor joined his sometime political sparing partner Paula Bennett to chat on her NZ Herald podcast Ask Me Anything.
Goff has spent the past 41 years in public service. He became a member of Parliament in 1981. While an MP, Goff served as a senior minister in the fifth Labour Government, handling portfolios like justice, foreign affairs and trade and defence. He also led the Labour Party and was Leader of the Opposition.
Goff left Parliament in 2016 and was then elected mayor of Auckland, a role he has held for two terms, and is giving up shortly.
Outgoing Auckland mayor Phil Goff. Photo / Cameron Pitney
Goff doesn't fancy himself much of a partier, saying the "serious" world of politics knocks it out of you but he gets lots of people coming up to him with questions at events. This reaching out to the mayor can even extend to Auckland city traffic.
"I've been known to pull up just up the road there at [the] traffic lights on Hobson Street, and the car next to me will wind down their passenger window and start a conversation. And the lights have changed colour!"
Ask Me Anything with Paula Bennett is a NZ Herald podcast, with new episodes out every Sunday.
Goff considers his many years in the public eye as a public service but acknowledges it can be, "60 to 70 per cent frustration and 30 to 40 per cent satisfaction."
"When you can make a difference, the satisfaction is actually quite intense. I loved representing my community of Mount Roskill. I was at the Bomber Command Association commemoration service that was at the MOTAT Aviation Hall. The [zoo] tram was there, and I went over and said g'day to the conductor and he said, 'Oh, I wish my wife was here. She'd give you a big hug.' And I said, Why's that? 'Oh, you got her immigration status back in 1986.'"
Goff was surprised but delighted.
"He remembers that after all of that time. You know, it was part of my routine obligation to my constituents. But families do remember when you're able to provide that assistance, and that's really gratifying. I felt quite touched by that. I went away thinking, god I made a difference in somebody's life, however small."
However, not everyone Goff heard of was as pleased with his time in office.
"My parallel story to that is that when my son was at primary school and I was minister of education, the teacher used to start off the day by telling him for five minutes what his dad was doing right or wrong.
"My wife never told me that 'cause I'm sure I would've gone there and wanted to punch him in the nose. How dumb can you be?"
A third term as mayor was an option for Goff but after deliberating he decided he'd done his time in politics.
"I've done 40 years. As the former Minister of Justice, that's [about] four life sentences. I followed John Key in this regard. I worked out John Key was the only prime minister that I can recall in the history of this country that didn't die in office, got stabbed in the back by his colleagues and replaced, or got defeated in an election.
"Why not leave on my own terms? While people are still saying, 'Hey, We'd like you to do another term', that's a good time to go."
This year Goff is able to give the debates a swerve. During his campaigns as an MP he would tend to do two or three debates but during his last mayoral campaign he was involved in a whopping 43 debates.
"I missed one when my sister-in-law died. But you know, when you go along to that meeting, there might. Twenty people in the room, or there might be 300, but almost everybody in the room is there because they're a political activist and they've already made their mind up. But you have that accountability responsibility, so you turn up."
Paula Bennett and Phil Goff swapped their red and blue colours for Bennett's Ask Me Anything podcast. Photo / Cameron Pitney
As to the question of how to improve the woeful participation in local body elections, the outgoing mayor has plenty of thoughts but is unsure what the solution is.
"It is really sad because a generation of our parents and grandparents died for the right. People are now saying, 'Oh, I can't be bothered'.
"One [part of it] is that we have such a centralised system in New Zealand politics. Ninety-three per cent of all public revenue goes to central government. People aren't silly, they know that central government is the dominant force in politics.
"I think if you devolved more funding, and more power to local authorities, then people would actually acknowledge there's a lot more power to do that locally.
"We're a super city in Auckland, supposedly, 1.7 million. But while we got the status of being a city that was a third of the country's population, we didn't get the real transfer of power that would enable us to make more independent decision making.
"We are influential, we can make a difference, but that grinding restraint is there."
Listen to the full podcast for more from Paula and Phil on wearing red and blue, raw fish, a lack of talent in the mayoral field (and why Paula didn't run), as well as who Phil Goff's favourite prime minister is.
