Some on the right seem to be holding up this latest revelation of total incompetence in the behind the scenes cluster fuck of a response to the Auckland flooding as some sort of defence of their man Wayne Brown.
But it really isn’t…
Auckland mayor says he wasn’t on emergency email list as flood waters rose
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has said he wasn’t on an emailing list for emergency updates in the lead up to the severe flooding at the end of January.
It comes after he apologised to Aucklanders for “dropping the ball” on Friday as floodwaters rose around his constituents.
A spokesperson for Brown’s office said the email issue has “since been rectified.”
“Unfortunately, neither the Mayor nor his staff were on the AKGEOC (Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management Team) email distribution list and did not receive critical updates the day before or day of Auckland’s flooding on Friday,” the spokesperson said.
…before I get into what this really tells us can I just point out that if you are a right wing Aucklander who voted for the Boomer King and are now desperately trying to defend him because you don’t want your choice to be shown as the total folly that it was, then maybe you need a cup of tea and a lie down because your denial is beneath us.
What this news that he wasn’t being told what the fuck was going on proves is that all his statements on the night that he was doing his job and he made the best decisions and it’s not his fault were all bullshit weren’t they?
He wasn’t getting urgent updates that the city was drowning and so sat on his hands!
By 4pm on Friday it was becoming increasingly obvious an emergency event was occuring, however the Auckland City Civil Defence Bureaucracy alongside the Mayor were spending more energy behind the scenes defending their inaction than preparing for what was to come.
By 6pm the enormity of what was happening was attracting the attention of national emergency authorities while the Police, Fire and Ambulance services were already stretched.
As the fight behind the scenes between the Mayors Office, the Civil Defence Auckland Staff and the national emergency authorities continued there was no communication whatsoever from the Authorities telling Aucklanders in their time of need what to do.
By 9pm we had the extraordinary situation where Auckland MPs were taking to Twitter begging the Mayor to declare a state of emergency.
Between 6.14pm and 10.18pm when the Emergency Declaration was finally made public, there was no one leading Auckland during the worst weather disaster on record!
I’m not asking Wayne Brown to stop the rain, I’m demanding that he be held accountable for the total lack of communication during those 4 hours when Aucklanders had no idea what to do!
The Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2022 stipulates the Local Civil Defence Emergency Management Groups (CDEMG) bear responsibility for coordinating Auckland’s emergency response, but it is not clear who was appointed the ‘Group Controller’ of this event and the Civil Defence Staff who did front had only been appointed last year and was previously responsible for building children’s playgrounds!
I’ve been in the media game for over 30 years in this country and I have never witnessed a trainwreck interview like Wayne Brown’s one. His focus was on defending his own inaction and incompetence, not the welfare of the people of Auckland.
You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people and Wayne looks like he barely cares about the people.
But let’s acknowledge decades of underfunding Auckland’s infrastructure alongside rapacious Developers being allowed to build on floodplains have all been exacerbated by a warming climate that is generating catastrophic extreme events that are ultimately going to redefine our future.
We had detailed flood maps in 2009, why were they ignored?
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Lets fire the dude that got the job 3 month ago. Lets blame him for a council that does not do their work. Lets blame him for an emergency plan that would have been established under Phil Goeff, Mayor of AKL 2016 – 22.
If Brown had built all those houses on flood plains during his term he’d be the fastest to provide housing in this country ever.
Sorry RB, but how do you know that Goff established the plan? And not John Banks? Furthermore, Wayne Brown isn’t new to being a Mayor. He has done it before up north, so you would think that he would have an inkling as to what the procedures and protocols were in a civil disaster/emergency.
No Brat lets blame him for NOT being on the list. Surely it should have been part of the takeover process and he should have been asking where is the list.
Martyn you were bang on and this silly sausage just proved it.
The Labour government is still blaming the National government for most of what is wrong and that is after 5 years so surely Brown should have some wiggle room .This is not to say he has handled the situation well but there are more assessment that need kicking apart from his.
Fine RB, blame someone else but at least have the decency to admit the emergency plan contained no pages with the words ‘act like a total w*nker.’
So the reclusive mayor did not look out of the window and say crikey it’s raining hard I must check up on what’s going on; perhaps the radio or TV will have some information. No, he ignored what was obvious to all.
I remember another train wreck interview about nine years ago. It was Simon Bridges on Campbell Live, then MP for oil n gas. What a jumped up prick he was. You can reminisce here, Auckland’s now Chamber of Commerce CEO. Enjoy the cringe!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eD2JKoKGrjA
I have just watched the piece and feel Simon handled it well against the preacher Campbell. Imaging any of the present Labour
ministers standing up to an interviewer with the same passion especially someone like Kelvin Davis. He has made good job of leading the business group it is a pity more could not see his worth when National Party leader.
So you labelled Campbell yet not Bridges. Anything you said after that was completely bias. Imagine if Key was interviewed the same way Ardern was interviewed by Hosking. Bridges was seen as he was as the National party leader, worthless. The interview demonstrated that.
Your candidate Collins lost – get over it…now it’s just sour grapes
100% Ada
Doubt whether Efeso would have been able to do much better IMO ?
Brown clearly was not in touch with what was happening in the local communities of his consistency. Loads of other people saw how bad the situation was from about 4pm – media, social media, MPs, 1 or 2 councillors were all reporting what was happening on the ground.
Brown is a top-down, corporate style manager who was only concerned with what the corporate-style CCOs were doing with respect to money.
I have been long concerned that we need a mayor who cares about local communities and works in our interests. Phil Goff is also a bit of a soft neoliberal, and I never voted for him. But even Goff would have been more aware in the late afternoon, of what a dangerous situation was developing on the ground. He’d have been proactive and been contacting the emergency management team and asking what they were doing. He’d have been on the phone to loads of people and have given any team not doing it’s job a talking to, not waiting for emails.
Brown was sitting in his office, not looking out the window, and waiting for someone to tell him what to do. He was incompetent when it mattered.
Efeso Collins would also have been aware and after being a community worker and a councillor would have many network contacts he’d have been onto. He most surely wouldn’t have been in his office waiting for someone to tell him what to do,
As it was Goff’s admin that deliberately left the Mayor and his staff off the list, Collins would not have been on the list either.
Nor, would we be having all this leftist outrage..,,,
Ada and Auckland drowned while the Mayor only worried about playing tennis.
Ada = correct! It seems to be the NZ Government was out of the loop on the flooding
Best thing to happen Efeso losing, we now see what a fucked up retard Brown is, you should be proud Ada and rhymes with anker and starts with W.
You give the evidence of the brain dead right wing Martyn was talking about. An intelligent person wouldn’t have responded.
So the overpaid council bureaucrats failed to update their email list.
Wayne Brown tenure as Mayor will be remembered for what he has achieved in the next 2 and a half years. Here’s hoping it’s better than Goff and Len Brown
Actually just thinking about Wayne being left off the email list. That is either gross incompetence or an attempt to sabotage Brown by the bureaucrats. I know the latter is unlikely, but it is possible
So Anker is it also a possible plot against Brown to simply let him speak? Let’s face it, if you want Brown to look like an a’hole, it’s not complicated, just give him a microphone and turn up the volume. Poor old Desley looks like she wants to take him out the back and wallop him.
I can confirm it’s true because even the media drongos are onto it this time!
Phil Wilson, Stabback and their little cabal have all colluded to undermine Brownie, again.
Have you noticed to the limp Labour lite councilors have all gone to ground after they all tried to be flood celebs and hero’s.
It was a stitch up and failed. How fucked are the limptard lite weight lefties when they support a failure of left leaning councilors and officials in the death of 5 people. Scum is all I can say they are.
Keeping incompetent colleagues out of the loop is standard practice for a very good reason!
I am happy that Brown won, and happy how he has handled things, and happy that he called the media drongos. As they are.
So I take it you must work in media then
The post sounds like a scenario for a film about personalities, inadequacies, trying to stay afloat and keep good salaries and acceptability ready for the next promotion etc. It could be made in a wry way so you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, possibly both at once.
In the absence I suggest watching the USA series Parks and Recreation who attempt to cope with civil matters in a civil way, using a bit of subterfuge and trying to keep within the latest cultural codes. These are some short takes of Ron Swanson who, behind his moustache, is in charge of P&C. The blonde woman is Lesley trying to manage her part of the parks department, and out-think any detractors trying to crush the goals and outcomes that she envisages for the good people of Pawnee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qs_VGXBphs
Okay, “Let’s be clear here” to quote a Chris….Brown was put in by the business community to flog the council assets, something they had been promised by Key + Hide & why the super city was formed.
Also, It’s why the other two candidates on the right stood aside to give him a clear run at the prize.
PR & communication are not why he is there, is job is to ram thru the privatisation as soon as he can, the storm/disaster is just a fly in the ointment to him along with the drongo media….now watch how the media are pulled into line by the vested interests.
Who’s responsible for keeping street gutters, drains, cesspits, culverts, creeks, streams and rivers clear of plastic and other rubbish, silt, clumps of grass, flax, dead sheep, logs, small trees, supermarket trolleys and trailers etc.
All citizens need to take responsibility for their own drink bottles, takeaway boxes and anything else they usually drop for others to clean up.
However, we haven’t seen council workers or street sweepers engaged in these jobs for years.
Old drains around school grounds and parks also need rebuilding in many instances.
Is Mr. Fix-it going to prioritize this work or is his sole purpose cutting services and selling assets belonging to ratepayers.
Your comment about him needing to ‘love the people’ hits a raw nerve when we realize he’s there to serve the people who voted him in, not those of us who didn’t. He couldn’t even stir himself after seeing people wading through chest-high water in Ranui, on the 6pm. news.
Maybe Ice-Buckets Brown is an apt description.
I think the people of Auckland knew ‘what to do’. They gathered a few important items, babies and small children and fled. Fire, Police and Ambulances knew what to do. They were all fully employed helping people. It was only the pen-pushers who hesitated and then buried their heads in the mud.
I was thinking about the possibilities of making a film around our rabid administration systems here which would be very moving!
I have heard FTTT about women and men who are little hitlers. Say they start an efficiency drive and place desks one against each other in a row intending to reduce rented space, and get a tick for saving money on their department’s basic costs. If the staff could develop esprit de corps and organise themselves they could find ways to get unauthorised breaks not noticed by their immediate boss.
In one Parks and Recreations out-takes the new reorganising boss introduces a circular desk where the boss swivels round to survey staff as in a watchtower. To avoid this constant surveillance the staff could create a covered way under cover of their desk tops like a tunnel to crawl through like a wartime escape tunnel.
Think Colditz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdhM0oz5lKs
Berlin Wall one – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGDCFvfLnPs
Also think style of the series ‘Allo Allo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHxTiMU0aLk
Effect – possibly schadenfreude!
Sounds like a bit of a F**k Up in the Civil Defence Department IMO ?
Don’t thing you can hang Brownie for it, and his tennis was probably cancelled anyway unless he was playing Indoor Tennis ?
You’d like to think that who ever is in charge of Civil Defence would be away rectifying this error and update their mailing lists natiowide. It may start mid morning on Tuesday after the holiday, usual early work place wankfests and 3 flat whites.
I wonder if Les Mills and Christine Fletcher are still on it.
Oh dear the excuses kept coming.
If you search Clover Drive on Google maps it is shown in blue, while all the streets around are grey. Im wondering what Google new that the city planners did not.
Never let a little flood stop a good game of tennis
Totaliatarian.
How to have a happy and safe Auckland monsoon
Advice for Mayor Brown
Compulsory Unionism.
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