If you play sport, use the footpath, like hearing the birds sing, turn the tap on, flush the toilet, put rubbish in a bin, walk in the park, swim at the beach, drive a car, cycle or use public transport, chances are Auckland Council will have made a decision that affects your experience. Some of those decisions are made around the Town Hall table, some are made by council-controlled organisations (CCOs) such as Watercare or Auckland Transport, and some are made locally by local boards.
With the election signs now down and the final results in, you have contributed to the democratic process and have chosen a mayor, councillor and local board team to represent you for the next three years as the fourth term of Auckland Council. It’s a team tasked with making improvements at all levels of the council organisation, a team which needs to listen to you, and a team which needs to plan and deliver not just for today, but for the future.
THANK YOU to all those who have voted. It wasn’t easy (and I’m not talking about who to vote for). Being a postal ballot you had to first receive papers, with many people saying they were late or didn’t turn up at all. Then, because the post is so infrequent, you really had to post them back a week before they were due (in the last election just under 3000 voting papers arrived after the close- off). To top it all off, voting was scheduled to happen in the middle of the school holidays.
Many ask ‘Why wasn’t it all online?’ Officials repeatedly say security cannot be guaranteed, however my message to government is that you have to choose a better time and a better way. NZ Post are closing locations — the Remuera post office shut three days before the elections closed — and are reducing the number of red post boxes on the street. The system needs to be easy for people to participate in. At time of writing, just under 35 per cent of people actually voted in Auckland. In our area, the provisional figures were a bit higher, 41.5 per cent of those in the Ōrākei Local Board area voted, as did 36.1 per cent of those in the Waitematā area.
Mayor Goff has been re-elected and we have four new first-time councillors. I look forward to working positively with them all as we take this city forward. There are some obvious challenges. To name just a couple, more accountability and transparency from our council-controlled organisations — and a much stronger reinforcing of the ‘control’ too! There are financial challenges as we continue to deliver the biggest infrastructure spend this city has ever seen.
I’m also looking forward to working with my two new local board teams. You’ll remember that this election the Ōrākei ward changed its boundary to accommodate population changes in the central city. We now have parts of two local boards in the ward: the Waitematā Local Board looking after Parnell, Grafton and Newmarket, and Ōrākei Local Board looking after Remuera, Meadowbank, some of St Johns, Stonefields, Glendowie, St Heliers, Kohimarama, Mission Bay and Ōrākei.
The new local board teams are a mixture of new people and those who have served before. On the Waitematā board are five new members — Alexandra Bonham, Sarah Trotman, Julie Sandilands, Kerrin Leoni and Graeme Gunthorp, who join existing members Richard Northey and Adriana Christie. The Ōrākei board has four new members in Scott Milne, Sarah Powrie, Troy Elliot and Margaret Voyce, who join Troy Churton, David Wong and Colin Davis as returning members. These new teams will be vitally important to the local business and communities.
Finally to those who supported me for a second term, thank you. I am humbled and honoured. My commitment remains steadfast in delivering for you, the communities and residents of the Ōrākei ward, and for Auckland.