Herald senior writer Simon Wilson told Georgina Campbell on On the Tiles - Local Edition, the Herald’s politics podcast, that Brown did not immediately understand the seriousness of the weather event or that his role in it required him to be highly visible.
But Wilson deemed Brown the winner in Auckland by the end of his first year on the job after demonstrating an ability to learn and showing determination to push through his reforms.
Brown came into office saying he was largely going to turn his back on councillors who had surrounded his predecessor, Phil Goff, and give more power and authority to a bunch of independent councillors, Wilson said.
But a year later, on the whole, those independent councillors and the mayor have become disillusioned with one other and Brown is back relying on colleagues who were closer to Goff, he said.
“So the big losers are the people who were blustery. I’ve called them the furious few, people who were angry about everything before and are still angry. They can’t get out of an angry mode. They’re in a minority and don’t have the ear of the mayor.”
Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive and former Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett said long-standing Gore District Council chief executive Stephen Parry was the loser of local politics this year.
“Know when your time is up, my friend,” Leggett said.
The rift between New Zealand’s youngest mayor, Ben Bell, and Parry caused a showdown in Gore and divided the council.
Seven of the district’s 10 councillors said they had lost confidence in Bell but when it came to a formal vote of no confidence, they lost their courage and the motion was not taken up.
The news brought huge cheers from a packed public gallery that afternoon.
Leggett said there is clearly community support for the mayor they elected.
“Democracy serves us well most of the time. What we need to do is ensure that those elected representatives have the ability and the levers at their disposal to make the changes that their communities want.”
Listen to the full podcast of On the Tiles - Local Edition to hear more about the winners of local government politics, how much sympathy there is for Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau’s drinking problem, and the challenges facing local government next year.
On the Tiles is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes are available on Fridays.
Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.
