John Tamihere says ratepayers shouldn't foot the bill of fixing homelessness because it is a central government responsibility. Photo / Brett Phibbs
John Tamihere says ratepayers shouldn't foot the bill of fixing homelessness because it is a central government responsibility. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Opinion
COMMENT
On August 30, senior writer Simon Wilson had an opinion piece published with the headline "What's John Tamihere really trying to do?"
My message to that is, you should put your name on a ballot alongside Phil Goff and come and face the fire. For the record, I'll tellyou what I am really trying to do.
All of Auckland knows it is not right to sell 5500 square metres of prime Auckland real estate, with an 18-storey building, known as the Civic Administration Building on Aotea Centre, attached for $3 million.
It's claimed my tilt at the mayoralty is merely a brand build for me to join the Māori Party and stand in next year's general election. I'm not sure who has the extra-sensory perception to determine what I am thinking before I have thought it.
We cannot allow the contracted developer to break their 2016 agreement and sit on a ratepayer-funded land bank and watch it grow.
The land should have gone back to the market to get the best price for the ratepayer. When I get downtown and open the books, I guarantee someone is going to jail.
The comment piece said my billboards are provocatively misleading. "I say rates freeze, Goff says up they go by 10.5 per cent." This is a statement of truth and of fact. The opinion piece asked you to believe that 3.5% + 3.5% + 3.5% = 3.5% and, if I say 10.5 per cent, I am not telling the truth.
It said my new crossing concept for the North Shore is outlandish and will cost $10 billion. Where did that number come from?
On finances, it's alleged my policies have removed $8b from a 10-year budget and added $12b in costs. Where did those numbers come from? There is no evidence provided to sustain the numbers.
The opinion piece said I appeal to an audience who approve using water sprinklers to drive rough sleepers away. I have personally uplifted and helped more homeless than Goff and Phil Twyford put together and I have done so with compassion. The article notes I say the ratepayer should not meet the bill of fixing homelessness because it is a central government responsibility, that's true and they are failing. A matter of fact, if you walk downtown.
It's also a matter fact that Goff, in the past 12 months, has spent $500,000 on a political stunt to count the homeless. He then voted ratepayer money of $5.5m - without any government connectivity - to homeless-related matters. Yet nothing has changed on the street.
In the middle of an election debate, if someone says my policies are a fantasy, because he has none, I have every right to say "he is out of it on ecstasy". It's called a democratic process.
Yes, I did state that we have to seize back control of our city from the bureaucrats and we have to rebuild the budget and the balance sheet.
My rates freeze is fully costed by finding 1 per cent of savings across the whole of council per annum. On a $5.7b balance sheet, I have to save $86.6m a year. My freeze comes from saving on expenditure, rather than taxing to fund more stupidity.
The article is right that I am furious at the council's property company Panuku, and its return on investment in a bull market from Panuku has been disgraceful.
Furthermore, I have filed proceeding in the Human Rights Tribunal against Goff and Panuku because we wanted 36 out of 72 units being built in Papatoetoe to be for superannuants requiring social housing. Goff and Panuku blocked our ability on public land to provide urgent housing to a population in difficulty.
We are allowed to stand up for a social conscience rather than sell our souls for a few dollars.
It's claimed my tilt at the mayoralty is merely a brand build for me to join the Māori Party and stand in next year's general election in Auckland. I'm not sure who has the extra-sensory perception to determine what I am thinking before I have thought it.
John Tamihere. Photo / Michael Craig
An August 31 comment piece rated the performance of all councillors. It should be no surprise to anyone reading this article that many who voted against Goff were marked below five and those voting with Goff were marked highly.
All I want is a tilt at this mayoralty. That's what I'm really trying to do.
• John Tamihere is a candidate for Auckland Mayor in the 2019 local government elections
