Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown apologises to deputy Desley Simpson for ‘Lamborghini’ comment

Auckland's Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, Mayor Wayne Brown, and a Lamborghini. Photo / NZ Herald

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has apologised to his deputy, Desley Simpson, after saying she was only interested in helping her constituents buy Lamborghinis.

Simpson represents the eastern suburbs ward of Ōrākei, which includes the wealthy suburbs of Remuera, Kohimarama and St Heliers.

The mayor made his “Lamborghini” remark when he rang this reporter on March 12. “All she thinks about is how to help people buying their next Lamborghini,” he said.

The comment was reported in the Herald afterwards.

Brown announced in February that he will run for re-election in October. Simpson has allowed speculation to build that she might run against him, although she has not made an announcement either way.

“I haven’t made the call,” she told the Herald this week. “Absolutely, I haven’t made the call.”

She told the Herald that Brown texted her to apologise, claiming the comment was taken out of context.

The Herald asked the mayor’s office for clarification. What context was missing and how would it change the meaning of what he said?

A spokesperson responded that Brown “has nothing to add in relation to what you reported”.

The Herald understands that Simpson has asked him the same questions.

Indications that she might run for mayor surfaced in late January, when it was revealed by the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance that her son Andrew had registered the internet domain name desleyformayor.co.nz.

At the time, Simpson said the family had discussed it over Christmas and it was done “as a bit of a laugh”.

Brown chose Simpson as his deputy when he won the mayoral election in 2022, but they are understood to be no longer close.

She told the Herald she has not decided when she will rule herself in or out of the mayoral race.

Despite Brown’s remark about Lamborghinis, he and Simpson are both among the wealthiest people on Auckland Council.

She is the great-great niece of Sir Henry Brett, Mayor of Auckland in the 1870s, and the granddaughter of Sir James Donald, a former government minister and chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board.

She drives an electric BMW, not a Lamborghini. Her husband, Peter Goodfellow, is a former president of the National Party and a grandson of the dairy industrialist Sir William Goodfellow.

Brown’s wealth comes largely from construction and property development: he has holdings in many parts of the North Island.

When elected, Brown described his $296,000 mayoral salary as not being a lot of money to him.

Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.