Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson’s Chinese food lunch disappointment

Cr Maurice Williamson says there are only Chinese restaurants near the Auckland Town Hall and he wanted a sandwich for lunch. Photo / Michael Craig

Auckland Council’s cost-cutting move to scrap free lunches during meetings has left one councillor despairing that there is “nothing but Chinese food” to buy near the town hall venue.

First-term councillor and former National cabinet minister Maurice Williamson voiced his disappointment during yesterday’s planning committee meeting when he discovered that not only would food not be provided for councillors, but there was no place nearby selling cuisine he liked.

Williamson said he was looking for a pie or a sandwich but could not find a single eatery anywhere near the upper Queen St venue that specialised in the food he had lived on half his political life.

Council meetings take place inside the historic Auckland Town Hall at the top of Queen St, which has seen a number of eateries close in recent years after successive Covid lockdowns.

“The problem with this building, because it’s just so awful, I cross the road to the food court thinking ‘wow’, and it’s just nothing but Chinese food,” he told the meeting.

Williamson said today if he had been given notice about the change in catering, and the lack of available food options, he would have packed his own sandwiches.

Committee chair Richard Hills said he had notified councillors about the end of free lunches in an email the night before the meeting.

Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson just wanted to buy a ham and egg sandwich or mince and cheese pie for lunch. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“I normally go to a ham and egg sandwich or a mince and cheese pie. That’s what I’ve lived on half my political life. It doesn’t need to be fancy or flash, more something that you can hold in your hand and eat when you’re sitting at the desk working.

“Had we had notice I would have made a sandwich at home and taken it.”

He said the issue was a matter of convenience rather than cost.

“I think we should pay for our own food. The problem I had is when I went out from the town hall and wandered around, it was very hard to find a sandwich bar or a pie shop.

“When I worked at Parliament you could walk out onto Lambton Quay and there were sandwich shops and Subways.

“I was just gobsmacked how Queen St has changed and how it’s lacking in all sorts of things that it used to have.”

Cr Jo Bartley said she took issue with Williamson’s appraisal of their workplace saying it was an honour to come to the town hall and represent the people who voted her onto council.

She had packed her own egg salad for lunch for yesterday’s meeting but professed a love of Chinese cuisine.

I don’t think the Auckland Town Hall is an awful building I find it an honour that it’s where I come to work to represent the people who put me in the seat around the governing body table. And I love Chinese food too.

— Jo Bartley (@jobartleynz) March 2, 2023

Previously councillors have enjoyed light lunches on meeting days including sandwiches, muffins, fruit with tea and coffee at the rear of the council chamber.

The last meeting to have food catered was back in December when Mayor Wayne Brown refused to let councillors eat it until they’d voted through his controversial budget cuts.

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