Jacinda Ardern meets Wayne Brown: How their first talk went

ANALYSIS:

By all accounts, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's first meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was cordial and constructive.

There were smiles when they shook hands for the obligatory photo and the leaders of the country and the biggest city agreed to work constructively together to ensure Auckland thrives and prospers.

The meeting lasted longer than the expected 40 minutes. There was a lot to cover; transport, crime, Three Waters, Ports of Auckland and the future of local government.

But it was across town at the offices of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce where the first signs of tension in the Auckland-Wellington relationship cropped up.

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Jacinda Ardern and Wayne Brown discussed the Ports of Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig

Twelve years ago, there was tension at the first meeting between prime minister John Key and the first mayor of the Super City, Len Brown, at the old Manukau City offices. The then National prime minister and Labour mayor said the same thing about working together, but more importantly, agreed behind closed doors not to slag one another off.

The pact lasted, the pair got along well and this certainly helped Brown get the City Rail Link over the line.

It's hard to see Ardern and Brown getting along like Key and Brown, who would catch up for dinner from time to time.

Emboldened by an emphatic win over Labour's Efeso Collins and growing support for his daily edicts shaking up Auckland Transport and others, Brown is making the most of his mandate.

"I had very high expectations for the new mayor of this (potentially) great city," said his one-time mayoral rival Leo Molloy on social media.

"But I've aimed far too low, he's f****** killing it."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern poses for a photo with Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown at their first meeting. Photo / Supplied

The breath of fresh air Brown has brought to the City of Sails after the robotic Phil Goff will not have gone unnoticed in Wellington where Ardern’s Government is one year out from a general election where Auckland is key to winning or losing.

Ardern's responses to journalists' questions - she refused to hold a joint media press conference with Brown - were a mix of diplomatic and political messages.

Yes, she was interested in the mayor's priorities, wanted to focus on areas of shared interest and work together constructively in the interests of Aucklanders.

But she also came to Brown's mayoral office with a few political takeaways, one of which was she will be interested in the view of the full council, ie not just the bravado of the mayor.

Ardern said it will be useful for the Government to have ministers across key issues like transport, housing and infrastructure to come to Auckland and sit down with the mayor's team once the "council" is in place.

This appears to be part of a counter-strategy to Brown's insistence that Wellington's job is to listen to what Aucklanders say are the priorities, and to fund them - "not impose ideological schemes like the $30 billion airport tram, untrammelled housing intensification and Three Waters on a city that doesn't want them."

Another political takeaway Ardern had for Brown was that his desire to scrap the Government's Three Water Reforms would lead to higher rates bills.

But probably the most poignant message to Brown today came from one of Ardern's old foes, former National Party leader Simon Bridges, who she caught up with in his new role as chief executive of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media at the Auckland Business Chamber of Commerce after meeting with Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

The pair talked about the new mayor and agreed it was in Auckland's and New Zealand's interest to have a strong mayor and a strong council.

Bridges said the chamber is politically agnostic but is picking up mixed views among local businesses about Brown's call to free up port land for public use, getting cars off the wharves and moving goods by rail.

“What the chamber needs to see from Mayor Wayne Brown is some actual evidence or plan around shrinking the port, what is going to happen to the cars, what the cost of that is for consumers and how the rail plans will be funded.”