'The Nation'

Len Brown

Interviewed By Duncan Garner

DUNCAN Joining me now is the new Auckland Mayor Len Brown. First of all congratulations.

LEN BROWN – Auckland Mayor Thanks a lot Duncan.

DUNCAN Waking up this morning must be a pretty daunting task. You’ve got a massive city that you’re now effectively in charge of, daunting is it?

LEN It’s really exciting. I’m absolutely up for this challenge, have really worked hard through this campaign to prepare myself for this day, so we are ready to go.

DUNCAN You have made some serious promises during this campaign, especially around transport, especially the city loop. I mean this loop that you’re looking at in the city outside of the rail to the North Shore, the rail to the Airport. What’s the priority?

LEN The inner city loop is a clear priority. This is a priority that Auckland really has been working at for 40 years, is making some now serious progress on, and I have put in place a timeframe between five to seven years to get this loop in place. It’s critical to our suburban rail network and the need for us to go forward. So well forward in the planning already Duncan, we’ll do it.

DUNCAN So you’re saying you’ll do this in five to seven years?

LEN Five to seven years absolutely.

DUNCAN What does success look like in say at the end of your first term, three years? What does success look like for Len Brown?

LEN Oh well through the planning stage and maybe into the very early parts of construction. I mean this is a project as I say that’s been on the books for a long time. We finally have got some go forward over the last three or four years in terms of planning and designation, but I am going to absolutely step up on this project, and give it a kick in the guts, we’re going for it.

DUNCAN So Aucklanders will actually see some progress, some construction start by the end of that third year effectively when you’re in office?

LEN There is a reasonable possibility of that Duncan. I mean you know we’ve got to get through the process of completion of planning, designations. As I say there’s a lot of work that’s been done through ARC and our transport planners already, so we want to get well through that. But it would certainly be my aspiration to work towards that.

DUNCAN I mean even the government, Steven Joyce, the Transport Minister has questioned some of your promises in terms of being affordable and being able to be done. I mean he questioned some of them saying they’re not in the same lunar cycle effectively. Do you accept that perhaps you may have over promised in a couple of those areas?

LEN Oh look Duncan, one thing that I think the people have delivered here is a very clear mandate to the new Mayor of Auckland, and I accept that mandate and right through this whole debate, for 13 months, we debated high and low the issue of transport in particular the programme that I put out for transportation and rapid rail.

DUNCAN It is such a big programme, especially even a second crossing across to the North Shore. Is that really possible?

LEN Look I just want to answer it in this way. This government of the country has a high aspiration for Auckland. It wants Auckland to internationalise, that’s the whole purpose of us coming together, that was the primary purpose for the Super City structure was to really deliver on infrastructure and transport, and lift Auckland into the international city status, and the only way we can do that is delivering on transportation in particular to fire up our economic development, so we have got to do this, it’s the end of the time for the naysayers Duncan.

DUNCAN Yeah okay, so people on the North Shore watching this programme this morning, can you guarantee to them that there is going to be a second harbour crossing under Len Brown?

LEN I’ve given the people of the North Shore very clear indications as to what I wanted to do with a second harbour crossing in the timeframe, and they certainly in all of their discussions and responses to me were totally positive about that, they want this and the people of Auckland want it too. We’re going to deliver it Duncan.

DUNCAN You’re talking 10, 15 years in terms of that, I mean that’s further out.

LEN Absolutely, yes it is, and I mean these 15 year timeframes. You know we’re a city of 1.4 million with significant budgets, basically 3.3 billion dollars worth of budget per annum Duncan, so we are geared up now to actually deal with these major infrastructure projects.

DUNCAN Okay, affordability, two things. Rates, you’ve talked this week when I was on the campaign with you about capping rates. How do you cap rates and build what you want to build?

LEN Rates in and around the rate of inflation is what we talked about Duncan.

DUNCAN And you commit to that this morning?

LEN Yes absolutely I do, and we’ll be working towards that, but I have also talked about the alternative ways of funding these types of infrastructure projects, and in particular we’ve talked infrastructure bonds and also public private partnerships. Now we’ll be working through those two options. The first we already do, and significantly, about three quarter billion dollars in Auckland already. The second we will be having discussions with our community over the next year as to the viability and acceptability of those programmes.

DUNCAN Do you have a better negotiating point now with Steven Joyce, with John Key, because you are effectively like New Zealand’s first state if you like, you know in terms of its size? Do you have a better position to go to the government and say we want more money for this city.

LEN We are a Council and I want that clear. Secondly, in terms of my relationship with the government, very good working relationship with the Prime Minister and Steven Joyce, and the government would be as determined as I am, and as our first councillor, and I want to acknowledge them all this morning too because I haven’t had a chance to talk to them, but the government would be totally focused on ensuring this new structure succeeds and works, and so I am confident that myself as the new Mayor and our Council, will have a very good working relation with the government, and we’ll get good synergy, and particularly on issues of transport.

DUNCAN Just quickly, Matt McCarten’s calling it a centre left council, 13 to 8 effectively, do you see it as a centre left council?

LEN Oh look I see it as a really good mix, it is a great mix of political philosophy, and or no philosophy in terms of those who come to council without any political stripes, people like Sir John Walker, you know. So I think it is a great council in terms of the first coming together of Auckland, a really good mix. When people asked me who they should elect as their local councillors I said go for the people with community heart, and they’ve done that.

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