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Businessman and former Far North Mayor Wayne Brown is the latest candidate to join the race for the Auckland mayoralty.
He joins restaurateur Leo Molloy, Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck and Craig Lord in an increasingly crowded field on the Right to replace Phil Goff, who isstanding down after two terms.
Manukau councillor Efeso Collins is the sole candidate on the Left and has the endorsement of the Labour and Green parties.
At his campaign launch this morning at the Rosebank Business Association, he was welcomed and endorsed by former Waitakere City Mayor Sir Bob Harvey as someone who will give Auckland Council "a bloody good shake-up".
Brown said the council he leads would stop wasting money on dopey projects and get the basics right.
"We all love this fantastic city, yet as a city we are a bit like the Blues or the Warriors or the White Ferns - lots of promise, but never quite making the finals," he said.
Brown is running on his more than 40 years' experience running small, medium- and large Auckland businesses.
He spoke of leading the Auckland District Health Board that built the new hospital on time and below budget, being brought in to fix the city's electricity mess after the 1998 power crisis, and putting the council's book into surplus as mayor of the Far North.
Wayne Brown was mayor of the Far North District from 2007 to 2013. Photo / File
He also proposed shifting the Ports of Auckland as head of a taskforce set up by the Labour-led Government in 2017, although he wants to keep parts of the port operation and make it pay an annual dividend of $200m a year and rates of $200m.
The port company currently pays no rates.
Brown said he has been trusted by shareholders, workers, governments and voters to fix big troubled, complex organisations and force better performance, saying "Auckland Council fits the bill".
He has promised to bring council costs under control, spending money wisely on the infrastructure that really matters, and prioritise basic services over optional extras.
A big pitch was made by Brown of dragging existing projects over the finish line, such as the City Rail Link, with no more lost time or money and Aucklanders deciding on the projects for the city, not Wellington bureaucrats or politicians.
Brown said his mayoralty would be bad news for council bureaucrats wanting to start another big project before finishing existing ones. The board of Auckland Transport would be replaced and the "nonsense" council-controlled organisations of Eke Panuku (development) and Auckland Unlimited (events and economic development) would be closed down.
"Auckland Unlimited is a glorified travel agency with $20m staff costs and which takes $70m from ratepayers for no obvious return," he said.
On rates, Brown was not willing to commit to any figures until he had seen the books at council.
Brown was mayor of the Far North from 2007 to 2013 where his mayoralty included "bringing bureaucracy to heel, user charges and minimal rates rises" - similar to what he is proposing for Auckland.
The Auditor-General also criticised him for blurring the lines between his elected role and his commercial interests - a charge he has always denied.
