Dick Hubbard: Your chance to get some super ideas working

Cartoon / Rod Emmerson

Opinion

Dear brand-new mayor:

First, congratulations on your appointment to this special position. But now for a note of realism. Drop the term "Super Mayor" as soon as possible.

Remember it is merely a geographic term and not a term of endearment (yet)! That has to be earned, not self-bestowed!

The second piece of advice. Take a leaf out of Helen Clark's book. Go and immediately take a well-deserved holiday. You have been campaigning for 18 months now.

Being on the campaign trail is far, far more debilitating than most of the public ever realise. The stakes have been incredibly high and you have had hundreds of thousands of donation dollars behind you.

I know from bitter experience that it was a mistake to go straight into the new job the day after election day. Of course, you are going to be dying of curiosity to see who you have as councillors. It is more than curiosity, however, as your deputy will be in there.

Who you have as councillors will shape your political fortunes. You will need to find out fast who are the trusted ones and who are the ones to watch.

Whom to be careful of? Keep a close eye on Mike Lee. That man has more than a touch of "Et tu, Brute?" about him. My shoulder blades know from personal experience.

After you have had a break, what do you do next? One of your top priorities must to be to get those local boards powered and fired up.

There will be some great community leaders there from the old councils and they will know the local issues and pressure spots. The local boards are still grossly underpowered in my opinion.

You will probably have to get the legislation changed to give them the power and responsibilities they really deserve or need. This, of course, will take time.

I believe strongly that the local boards must be given bulk funding even if this requires a legislation change. They must be able to employ limited numbers of local staff and to hire local contractors for local works.

They should have a revenue and expenditure budget to balance. They must be more than just glorified community boards.

In particular can I challenge you to both recognise the special characteristics of Waiheke with its feisty and able population and to understand the special aspirations and needs of an island community.

You might have to wait for some of the necessary legislation changes until that buffoon of an egocentric Minister for Local Government Rodney Hide gets defeated in the next election. At least that seems to be one certainty you can bank on.

Then make sure you get allocated a senior Cabinet minister as Minister for Auckland and not a rookie minor-party leader for this important role. And not Winston Peters next term, please, please, please!

I am pleased that you are not likely to have to dance to the tune of a political party with majority voting power on the council. I believe that the old Auckland City was not well served by having political parties of both right and left persuasions and heaven knows I had my problems in this area.

I do not think local government is well suited to party politics. I believe that the best decision-making comes from independently minded councillors who can make up their minds on a case by case basis.

This will bring some unpredictability into the debates and decision-making but I am sure you can handle that.

Avoid the pork barrel politics that have often characterised Auckland City decisions. Look no further than the current re-sanding of Judges Bay pushed through to see a prime example of that.

Want to get a quick run on the board? Then look no further than cleaning up Mt Eden or Maungawhau as it should correctly be called.

Over one million people visit that summit each year of which about 500,000 are from overseas. It is the showcase of Auckland. Yet it is tired, tatty, and often gridlocked with cars and buses spewing fumes and its current state is a terrible indictment on Auckland City.

There are plans languishing in the archives that for $20 million would have seen Maungawhau have a state-of-the-art visitor centre and public transport in the form of a train or coaches that would take people on a documentary visit to the top via the lovely Eden Gardens.

Dust those plans off and use your new powers to just do it! It would be an investment with an incredibly quick return and would be a point of pride for all Aucklanders. And it's doable in three years!

My final piece of advice: Don't forget the rest of New Zealand! You are the custodian on behalf of all New Zealanders for the commercial capital.

Make sure that Auckland is seen as an integral part of the country.

Oh, and if you get to a second term, accept the knighthood gracefully. You will have deserved it!

I will have been in Athens on election day watching from the sideline. May the wisdom of the ancient Athenians (not the present-day ones) be with you!

Good luck.

* Dick Hubbard is a former Mayor of Auckland City.