Maritime Union of New Zealand media release: Maritime Union challenges Mayor’s port privatisation polls

Maritime Union challenges Mayor’s port privatisation polls

The Maritime Union is challenging a claim by the Mayor of Auckland that ratepayers support his proposal to lease Ports of Auckland’s commercial operations.

Maritime Union of New Zealand National Secretary Craig Harrison says polling carried out for the Maritime Union shows the great majority of Aucklanders are opposed to any port privatisation.

New polling for the Union was in progress with preliminary results showing strong opposition to port privatisation by Aucklanders – confirming the outcome of previous polling by the Union in October 2023.

Mr Harrison says around nine out of ten Aucklanders in this latest polling carried out for the Maritime Union over November 2023 are opposed to or unsure about port privatisation.

“There is obviously a major inexplicable discrepancy between what the Mayor is saying and what we have found.”

The new polling on behalf of the Maritime Union asked the following question:

Which of these two views is closest to your own even if not exactly right?

We should proceed with Mayor Wayne Brown’s proposal to privatise Auckland Port by outsourcing its operations and profit to an overseas operator for the next 30-50 years: 11%

Aucklanders should continue to own and operate the Auckland port, through their publicly owned company, so profits are passed directly back to Auckland ratepayers: 70%

Unsure: 19%

Mr Harrison says the format of the questions in the Mayoral poll has not been released, so it is unclear what respondents in that poll were actually being asked.

The Maritime Union has released full details of its polling including questions and methodology (Editorial note: preliminary report attached).

Mr Harrison says port privatisation would mean major hikes in freight costs for Auckland businesses that would be passed onto consumers – negating any temporary influx of cash from privatisation, however it was managed.

“This is exactly what happened in Australian ports operated by DP World, and it is naive to think that Auckland would do better out a deal than much larger ports in Sydney and Melbourne.

“Mayor Brown’s deal would have one main beneficiary – a global operator who would gain control of the natural monopoly of Port of Auckland for decades and extract super-profits from a captive market.”

Mr Harrison says it was concerning how many Council resources were going into pushing a flawed privatisation agenda, when the ultimate goal was supposed to be about saving ratepayer money.