What the hell did we all just see last night?
I do not believe any Aucklander impacted by the worst natural disaster we have ever experienced would see that trainwreck interview by Mayor Brown and not feel incandescent with rage.
All he wanted to do was defend his incompetence and blame others.
How dare he.
His audacity is as shallow and self interested as the Civil Defence Bureaucrat who claimed they did their job while attempting to absolve himself from any responsibility.
Both he and Brown should be sacked.
My understanding is that Wayne Brown’s inexperience and lack of advisors (Hooton left 2 weeks ago) meant Brown dithered like a confused Boomer trying to update their iPhone without knowing what to do.
Most of the Auckland Bureaucracy had already left for the long weekend (Waka Kotahi’s jaw dropping decision to sign off in the middle of the disaster because they were off for the long weekend highlights the unbelievable audacity of these pricks), and no one seemed to be clear on what was happening because no one was around.
By 4pm houses were being flooded.
By 6pm a clearly unprecedented calamity was under way and was being reported on all major media. Emergency Management Centre were still sitting on their hands already trying to downplay their lack of action and seemed to simply be hoping the rain would just stop.
By 7pm the scale of rainfall was now known and still there is no clear leadership.
By 8pm the enormity of what was happening was apparent. There are mass emergency events all over the city at this stage and first responders struggle with the scale of the emergency.
By 9pm Auckland MPs including Chris Luxon and Michael Wood were calling on the Mayor to declare an emergency.
Wayne Brown finally declares the emergency at 10.30pm.
Between 6.14pm and 10.30pm the civic leadership of Auckland had total radio silence and did not tell the people of Auckland what to do or where to go.
Wayne Brown is right that the Emergency Management team were the ones to make the State of Emergency call, but that’s a technicality, Brown should have been on the phone to the Emergency Management Centre every 20minutes challenging their inaction.
But he didn’t because the Mayor’s inexperienced team didn’t know what the fuck to do.
Wayne’s incompetence alongside the Emergency Management Centre’s attempt to defend being asleep at the wheel alongside a Metservice giving poor information all conspired to rob Auckland of real leadership during the worst natural disaster we’ve ever encountered.
The quality of weather reporting from Metservice should also be investigated.
They receive over $20million each year from the Ministry of Transport for public safety forecasting services, but they also have a side hustle called ‘MetOcean Solutions’, where they provide detailed marine weather forecasting for their corporate clients.
Is there a difference between the open source forecasting they provide the public and the far more detailed one they provide corporate clients?
Politicians should ask to compare the MetOcean Solutions forecast with the public one.
In comparison to the bumbling Mr Magoo performance Brown was pulling, Chippy and Michael Wood looked like true leaders.
In the end of this train wreck interview, the deputy Mayor had to drag Wayne Brown off the stage because he was making such a dick of himself.
The Boomer King promised to ‘fix’ Auckland, and in Auckland’s most desperate hour, all he could do was act like a befuddled old clown.
The Auckland Mayor fiddled while Auckland drowned.
Where are all those boomer property speculators who elected Wayne Brown now?
This was a clusterfuck of epic proportions and they should be righteously ripped to pieces in any review of this calamity.
It is obvious to everyone who watched that interview that the Mayor is totally out of his depth and he should consider resigning.
All of us as Aucklanders were betrayed by his lack of leadership in our most dangerous moment as a city.
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At least all the boomers got to see Elton John play in Auckland for the last time and there will be more pot holes to fix.
Think AT first told them to drive into Elton John as they haven’t any trains running there – then after all that, it was cancelled it at last minute causing many to find out too late it was cancelled and then more traffic, congestion and confusion.
Well that is Auckland these days with so many in council, government, MET, NZTA, Auckland transport managers on the job telling Auckland how they should be run (into the ground for profit and ideology)!
At least it will take a bit of the heat off Karen and put it back on Wayne (‘Geez, Wayne!!) – and deservedly so!
Well, Labour have appointed Commissioners before when elected idiots did not get their act together…
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/commissioners-appointed-tauranga-city-council
We have an old saying in the Far North regarding not flushing toilets excessively as many of us are on rain water tanks and need to conserve it at some times of the year–“If it’s Yellow let it mellow, but Brown goes down!”
Ted Heath probably thought it was a masterclass performance.
I think building 1 million dollar Kainga Ora houses that fall off their foundations after being built in the last 3 years is a bigger scandal. We all knew this was all about profiteering money, government learnt nothing from the leaky building crisis and now we have huge flooding of these grandiose housing that look shiny and new for 5 minutes, but don’t last.
Many of the newer subdivisions with McMansion type housing that have not been designed well are the bigger flooders, Auckland has been building poor quality houses, in areas that should not be built on, costing a fortune and is not sustainable in any way.
Developers and advisors making a quick buck and government spin doctors marketing housing figures rather than delivering real results such as homes that will last longer than 5 – 10 years without needing remedial work.
Looks like these Kainga Ora tenants preferred the older style housing that didn’t fall off their foundations.
Auckland flooding: Several Kāinga Ora houses lifted off their foundations
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/01/auckland-flooding-several-k-inga-ora-houses-lifted-off-their-foundations.html
Can we start deducting the number of Kainga Ora and social housing homes that are now not liveable and require extensive repairs?
It was always pathetic that they were allowed to spin building consents as built housing rather than those that had got a code of compliance and actually were lived in. They never deducted the amount of housing they privatised or demolished from the original figures in a transparent way, so fake facts seem to be ok now.
How long before New Zealand gets a Minister for Auckland?
About a day……
‘Heckuva job, Brownie!’
Of course Buckets Brown is behaving like an monkey, he already made it clear in the past that his mayoral salary is peanuts compared to that he’s accustomed to receive.
absolutely agree thank you martyn
Wayne Brown said during his election campaign that he would not be taking orders from Central Government about how to run Auckland and it is HE who will be telling the Government how things will be done in these here parts.
Pacing and waiting…pacing and waiting………………
When the Auckland Transport Director resigned last year, after pressure from Wayne Brown, he said he did the right thing. So why doesn’t Wayne Brown now do the right thing. https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2022/11/mayor-comments-on-auckland-transport-director-resignation/
Of the 108 requests for an interview only two one-on-one interviews were granted. One to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, and another to 1News’ Katie Bradford.
He’s turning out to be one of Auckland worst mayors right up there with Hubbard and Banks.
Mayor Brown comments “those houses shouldn’t have been there”, wow, I bet those council employees who approved the siting of those dwellings, are shaking in their boots. Surely their bosses will be hauling them out to “Please explain how this anomaly happened”.
Yeah right, just like the Leaky Homes saga, they will pass the buck and keep their lucrative jobs. Nothing to see here eh?
But some of the houses dropping into the ocean below look like the owners have a buck or two to spend on sessions in court – we shall just have to wait and see.
Good summary Martyn. The Auckland Mayor fiddled and piddled while Auckland drowned.
Meanwhile the immigration floodgates are reopening. Auckland is green lit for further housing intensification, more concrete, even smaller sections, on 50 year old infrastructure unable to deal with todays numbers.
What a complete shocker, patsy mayor, who in his arrogant disregard of, media, and other!s, who dare to question his leadership and competence as Mayor, fluffed his first real challenge, as a competent Mayor,fit for the challenge as Mayor..
Its not really surprising. Brown is a technocrat and has his work cut out for him in a city the size of Auckland. He doesnt have people skills and isnt overtly influential and despite having been in mayoralty in Auckland is now facing stuff way beyond his ken.
Bad luck on timing as in he may have upped his experience in a year or two, but he will need to do a hell of a lot better. Makes you wonder if any of those lives would have been saved if the communication had been better?
Whilst Brown is culpable, it comes down mostly to Emergency Management agencies and they are showing the same degree of effort, commitment and knowledge as commonly displayed down here in Wellington by the PNC.
The sad truth is, you let everyone work from home and they dont really connect with those they serve or those they work with. Some work hard, some work harder but most work less or less effectively and they become on some level more selfish I suspect.
If you then promote on the basis of identity, ToW knowledge and commitment; and dont run a meritocracy, you end up paying huge salaries to absolute monkeys. This is unfortunately Jacinda’s legacy, the public service is in utter shambles. Many, many 50 + year olds, mainly men have been encouraged out because they are not seen as part of the brave new woke world and they are replaced with identarians who dont even begin to know what they dont know.
It’s a G’dawful mess.
Wayne Brown needs to resign, where is the petition I can sign for that!
On the one hand, Aucklanders had Efeso Collins, an intelligent, devoted, experienced Councillor with a history of responsible public facing work, who wanted to make public transport free, ensure the city meets its climate obligations, and worth noting, invest in the city’s climate resilience.
Instead Auckland got Wayne Brown, a “Trump”-style candidate, who had a history of getting into fights with councillors, had been investigated by the Auditor General for corruption, and during the campaign was on camera stating that he wanted to put photos of a journalist above urinals so that people could “pee on him”.
If that’s all there was to it, it would be appalling. People and animals lost their lives, and severe widespread damage to property took place – while overrun emergency service workers and the public were left to fend for themselves. Those effects could have been reduced or in some cases avoided if Auckland had had a competent Mayor. Even the Elton John concert-goers might have had the show cancelled at an appropriate time instead of showing up being drowned in rain only to be told to go home because it’s “too dangerous”.
Had he been in charge of all his faculties, Wayne Brown could have brought himself back from the brink with some humility aforethought. His immature petulance proved the naysayers to be absolutely correct. He could have reassured Aucklanders that any mistakes would be rectified immediately. He is a failure. Let him go and play tennis and sip champagne. Auckland will be much better off without him.
Regional election Low voter turnout matters, this is what you get, an out of touch grumpy old grandpa. Aucklanders make an effort and vote wisely next time.
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