A news report highlighting Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown yelling “free beer” at pro-Palestine protesters at an Auckland Council governing body meeting on Tuesday has stirred an angry response over the failure to face up to a serious human rights issue.

Mayor Brown was called a ”shameful man” by protesters after they were refused an opportunity to speak at the meeting over ethical procurement policies in response to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

At the start of the meeting, the mayor said a request from the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) to speak had been declined, saying the governing body did not have responsibility for Palestine.

A point of order was then raised by Councillor Mike Lee, who questioned the decision and asked for an explanation, said a Stuff news report.

Two other councillors also challenged the mayor, but Brown doubled down on his refusal to allow the PSNA deputation to speak.

When protesters started chanting “free Palestine”, Brown shouted “free beer”.

Brown again reiterated that the governing body did not have responsibility for Palestine, said the Stuff report.

‘Depraved comment’
“It’s hard to know who is more to blame for this story in Stuff,” said PSNA co-chair John Minto to supporters in a social media post.

“Is it Wayne Brown’s depraved comment ‘free beer’ in response to genocide in Gaza or is it the mainstream media which presents such a half-arsed account of our request to speak at the council meeting?”

Minto pointed out that so far the Christchurch, Nelson, Wellington and Palmerston North city councils — as well as Environment Canterbury and Environment Southland — had passed motions to exclude from their procurement policies any company on the United Nations Human Rights Council list of companies building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements on illegally occupied Palestinian land.

“Brown is happy for Auckland ratepayer money to be spent on companies involved in flagrant violations of international law and is refusing to allow the council to discuss this,” Minto said.

“We will be back.”

Other pro-Palestinian protesters added comments in support.

West Coast environmental activist Peter Lusk wrote: “That’s like the age-old comment ‘get a job’. Such an ignorant man is Wayne Brown.”

Brown lacked ‘compassion’
In a lengthy response, Nancy McShane wrote in part: “I find Mr Brown’s cavalier response of ‘free beer’ entirely inappropriate. It’s a pity he was unable to demonstrate an appropriate level of concern, insight and compassion towards the Palestinian people, and engage constructively with this group of PSNA members who were advocating on their behalf.

“PSNA has worked extremely hard to ensure our local bodies are vigilant in ensuring they are not supporting genocide through poor purchasing choices.

“Aucklanders should be concerned that, unlike many other councils around New Zealand, their own council has refused to even have a discussion on this issue, let alone adopt an ethical, genocide-free procurement policy.

“Once upon a time, our country had a proud reputation as a progressor and defender of human rights. That is rapidly disappearing.

“New Zealanders should think carefully about how this shift away from our foundational values of peace, justice and equality will shape the future of Aotearoa.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

SPECIAL REPORT: By Kim Meredith, Local Democracy Reporter

As I sat in Auckland Council’s extraordinary meeting deciding on its proposed annual budget, I was reminded of the time my late father came through the door looking bereft, having just been laid off, clutching his last pay cheque.

My parents quickly switched from English to Sāmoan, but I knew what they were talking about. How were they going to make ends meet?

It was the same air in the council’s Auckland Town Hall chambers.

With the number of television cameras lined up, you could have easily mistaken the event for a film premiere.

Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Councillor Josephine Bartley said it was a first, having the media in such strong force for the council’s controversial proposed annual budget.

Yet the anticipated fireworks turned into a mostly civil affair, with the only pointed comment coming from Mayor Wayne Brown, reprimanding members of the public for occasionally breaking into applause, “there will be no more of that”.

Mayor Brown said from the outset it could take several meetings to work through the budget, before allocating councillors five minutes to speak about their views — the first public signal that he was prepared to move from his fixed position and negotiate.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Auckland councillors crossed swords, singling out one another and raising impassioned concerns on debt borrowing, rates and selling council’s shares in Auckland Airport before deciding on their annual budget.

Elected members ended yesterday’s meeting undecided but council reconvened this morning to hash out amendments to Mayor Wayne Brown’s budget proposal, before finally voting to approve it.

The governing body of the city with the Pacific’s largest Polynesian population spent the majority of the day going back and forth on many of the points previously raised at the initial meeting yesterday.

The morning finished with council voting to reject the first tabled amendment, going back to square one.

Councillor Chris Darby said if the discussion was like “eating rats”, then council had rat flesh in its teeth.

It was a tense atmosphere in the council chamber, with much back and forth and very little compromise from councillors.

As the meeting dragged on, two members of the public gallery began to speak up, urging councillors to think of the impact the budget would have on the community.

They yelled at council to listen to them, and to spend time in their communities to see the impacts of their budget first hand.

The mayor adjourned the meeting briefly and ordered the two women be removed from the council chamber.

The meeting came to a head, as the council voted to pass the mayor’s proposal, which meant selling about 7 percent of the council’s 18.09 percent shareholding

It also means an average residential rates increase of 7.7 percent.

During the meeting, Christine Fletcher said the discussions held around the budget would serve as good lessons for the governing body.

“There are some magnificent opportunities for all of us to provide leadership,” she said.

As the vote was cast, another member of the public called out, “shame on all of you”.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Auckland Council ended its meeting yesterday without a decision on the annual budget.

The long-debated budget will attempt to close a $325 million deficit, exacerbated by a further $40 million in storm-related costs.

Councillors arrived in good cheer, cracking jokes about the lengthy session ahead of them, which included a debate over the council’s sale of its 18 percent stake in Auckland International Airport Ltd.

The mayor said the meeting would take as long as it needed to.

“This is a difficult process. It may take more time than expected, that’s fine,” Mayor Wayne Brown said. “We may have to come back next week, we’re not rushing this process.”

Three councillors declared a stake in the airport ahead of the meeting.

Airport shares declared
Just a few hours before, Albany Ward councillor Wayne Walker admitted to owning $3 million in shares through a trust. His neighbour at the table, Maurice Williamson, poked fun at Walker on his way into the chamber.

Chris Darby and Julie Fairey also declared airport shares in the days leading up to the meeting, prompting questions of whether they could vote on the sale.

All three said they had received advice from the auditor-general.

“In their view, my situation does not represent a conflict of interest,” Fairey said.

“Their advice was that I do not have a financial interest in the share sale,” Darby said.

“Same advice, and so I can participate in today’s decisions,” Walker said.

Backdown from the mayor
The mayor’s original budget proposal called for a full sale of the council’s 18 percent share in Auckland Airport. But during the meeting, he compromised.

Just three councillors — Andy Baker, Maurice Williamson and Desley Simpson — unambiguously declared their support for a full sale.

After hearing the positions of his fellow councillors, Brown offered a partial sale of 8 percent, meaning the council would hold onto a 10 percent stake.

“I’m now proposing that we sell 8.09 percent of our 18.09 percent shareholding,” Brown said as councillors returned from their lunch breaks.

“This means that we have to find another $32 million in operating savings or rates to balance the budget. I’m proposing we fill this gap with a general rates increase of 7.7 percent.”

The issue of selling the shares was contentious, leaving councillors divided. Manukau Ward’s Lotu Fuli opposed the sale, declaring the shares had value.

“This is a high-performing asset, it is an asset that we ought to keep,” she said. “And yes, we should consider our underperforming assets, but that’s a discussion to have at the long-term plan.”

Council would regret sale
Fuli said the council would regret letting go of the shares.

“Let’s not be rash, let’s not sell off these shares, $2.3 billion worth of shares, in order to plug a $325 million hole,” she said. “Let’s not make the mistake that past councils have made.”

Waitematā and Gulf Ward councillor Mike Lee agreed the shares had value.

“This is a real asset, folks,” he said. “This is an earning asset, just like the Ports of Auckland. Not only does it earn us money, but it earns us capital gains on our balance sheet. Any decent accountant will tell you that.”

North Shore Councillor Richard Hills said the months of debate around the budget had soured its culture.

“This has been the hardest six months of my career, it hasn’t been nice,” he said.

“It hasn’t just been about things you’ve said, mayor, there’s been a lot of other discussions around this table that I’ve been appalled at around staff, each other. It isn’t a nice place at the moment and I think the city knows that.”

He said the council needed to be careful about repeating the same mistakes next year.

“I want to work with the majority here, because we will break our staff and our city if we make them do this again next year,” he said. “I think we need to be really clear about that — we’ll do that again if we don’t make a hard decision today.”

Few in support
Albany Ward councillor Wayne Walker said the council needed to adjust its spending habits if it wanted to fix the issue.

“We’re not addressing the underlying financial issues, and that is that we are spending beyond our means. We’ve been doing it for successive years, and that has to stop,” he said.

“Fortunately, we have a mayor that’s committed to turning that around.”

He said there was time enough to make large decisions like selling the shares.

“We have a very, very good situation to go forward and not have to make decisions immediately in this long term plan that may be counter-productive.”

Some councillors, like Maurice Williamson, strongly favoured a full sale. He said the assets were not making enough money.

“I’m very much in favour of selling any asset that’s costing us more to keep than it’s returning to us. There’s a good old Tremeloes song, ‘Even The Bad Times Are Good’ — well, even the good times are bad.”

Williamson warned other councillors against accepting more debt.

“There’s so much more coming down the pipe at us,” he said. “The CRL, god knows what’s coming, I’ve been told the final figure is going to be $7.25 [billion], we’re going to have to borrow debt to fund that, and that debt ratio is already near the ceiling.

“So please, please look at trying to bring that back down.”

Auckland Mayor’s revised proposals:

• Mayor Wayne Brown is now pushing for the sale of 8 percent of the council’s shareholding in Auckland Airport, instead of the full 18 percent of shares
• Brown has also proposed $4 million of reductions to local board funding, and $5 million of unallocated to chief executive, Jim Stabback
• An average general rates increase of 11 percent has been proposed, with adjustments that will result in an overall rates increase of 7.7 percent for average households
• Plans to establish a political working group on the council’s investments has been set out, which aims to oversee assets like the remaining council shares in Auckland airport, and make recommendations to the governing body on long-term investment in other funds

Even Brown’s deputy, Desley Simpson, cautioned members. She said the final form of the budget needed to be balanced.

“We’ve talked this through so much, and it’s going to be a hard task to balance a budget that is fair for Aucklanders and meets the needs and desires of all those around the table.”

Brown’s new proposal included the establishment of a working group to oversee council investments, as well as a $4 million reduction to local board funding.

Questions about the updated proposal brought the meeting to a close at 5pm, with no time left to debate or cast votes.

Mayor Brown said the council would reconvene at 10am today.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand’s Media Freedom Council has called Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s exclusion of some media outlets from his budget speech today “unacceptable”.

In an appearance at Auckland Transport’s Viaduct headquarters, Brown took time out of pitching his plan to sell the city’s holdings in Auckland Airport to complain about road cones, his “not financially literate” councillors and target the “nasty” media.

Brown’s team invited journalists from only a few organisations to the announcement. RNZ was allowed in, but Stuff, TVNZ and Newshub were not.

Stuff reported among those allowed in were “business leaders, former politicians and former rugby league coach Sir Graham Lowe”.

Some reporters threatened to walk out of the event in protest, drawing this response from the mayor: “They weren’t invited, but some of the media have been pretty nasty. We did invite media who are sensible; and the media who are not weren’t invited, and have now decided, some of them, to bugger off — well, that’s all right with me”.

Stuff queried the mayor’s decision, and was told only a “select few journalists… we feel were best able to convey the mayor’s message” were invited.

Media Freedom Council chair Richard Sutherland — also head of news at RNZ — wrote to Brown shortly afterwards, to “express our deep concern about the attempted exclusion of journalists from today’s budget presentation in Auckland”.

In addition to RNZ, the MFC represents Newshub, Newsroom, NZME, Stuff, The Spinoff and TVNZ.

‘Today’s events troubling’
“Today’s events are troubling. The media plays a crucial role in informing the public and holding officials accountable. Denying access to journalists compromises the public’s right to be informed,” Sutherland wrote.

“Furthermore, we are aware that invitations that were issued were selectively targeted to specific journalists. It is imperative to ensure equal opportunities for all bone fide journalists to cover significant public events, irrespective of their perceived affiliations or perspectives.

“To be blunt, it’s unacceptable to cherry-pick journalists based on who you think will give you the easiest ride.”

Sutherland called Brown’s decision an “affront to the democratic process and an insult to voters”.

Brown did not take questions after his speech, saying he did not have time.

He has had a strained relationship with the media since taking the mayoral chains last year. Mediawatch in April described it as “frosty”, at best.

In January, as Auckland suffered its worst floods in living memory, he called journalists “drongos” in messages to friends, upset he had to cancel a tennis engagement to deal with the media. He later apologised.

He refused 106 media requests in his first month of office, granting only two.

‘Sell them all’
The guts of Brown’s speech was to convince his councillors that selling the city’s 18 percent stake in Auckland Airport was the only way to avoid massive cuts to services and rate hikes.

He has his deputy Desley Simpson on side. She told RNZ’s Midday Report she did not want to sell the shares at first, but had listened to advice and had been convinced.

She said the mayor’s second budget proposal was as good as it was going to get, and she hoped other councillors agreed to it.

“In my heart, I didn’t want to sell the airport shareholding. But professional staff advice has said ‘sell them all’. And you know, that’s a hard pill to swallow when in your heart, you want to keep them.

“It’s an emotional wrestle that I think a lot of people are struggling with.”

Simpson said selling shareholding was not just a short-term fix, and would save the council $100 million a year in debt interest.

The council’s debt is currently more than $11 billion.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

It is unlikely that the Mayor of Auckland, Wayne Brown, took any lessons from the city’s devastating floods but the rest of us — and journalists in particular — could learn a thing or two.

Brown’s demeanour will not be improved by a petition calling for his resignation or media columnists effectively seeking the same. He will certainly not be moved by New Zealand Herald columnist Simon Wilson, now a predictable and trenchant critic of the mayor, who correctly observed in the Herald on Sunday: “In a crisis, political leaders are supposed to soak up people’s fears…to help us believe that empathy and compassion and hope will continue to bind us together.”

Wilson’s lofty words may be wasted on the mayor, but they point to another factor that binds us together in times of crisis. It is communication, and it was as wanting as civic leadership on Friday night and into the weekend.

Media coverage on Friday night was limited to local evacuation events, grabs from smartphone videos and interviews with officials that were light on detail. The on-the-scene news crews performed well in worsening conditions, particularly in West Auckland.

However, there was a dearth of official information and, crucially, no report that drew together the disparate parts to give us an over-arching picture of what was happening across the city.

I waited for someone to appear, pointing to a map of greater Auckland and saying: “These areas are experiencing heavy flooding . . . State Highway 1 is closed here, here and here as are these arterial routes here, here, and here across the city . . . cliff faces have collapsed in these suburbs . . . power is out in these suburbs . . . evacuation centres have been set up here, here, and here . . . :

That way I would have been in a better position to understand my situation compared to other Aucklanders, and to assess how my family and friends would be faring. I wanted to know how badly my city as a whole was affected.

I didn’t get it from television on Friday night nor did I see it in my newspaper on Saturday. My edition of the Weekend Herald, devoting only its picture-dominated front page and some of page 2 to the flooding, was clearly hampered by early deadlines. The Dominion Post devoted half its front page to the storm and, with a later deadline, scooped Auckland’s hometown paper by announcing Brown had declared a state of emergency.

So, too, did the Otago Daily Times on an inside page. The page 2 story in The Press confirmed the first death in the floods.

I turned to television on Saturday morning expecting special news programmes from both free-to-air networks. Zilch . . . nothing. Later in the day TV1 and Newshub did rise to the occasion with specials on the prime minister’s press conference, but it seems a small concession for such a major event.

Radio fared better but only because regular hosts such as NewstalkZB’s All Sport Breakfast host D’Arcy Waldegrave and Today FM sports journalist Nigel Yalden rejigged their Saturday morning shows to also cover the floods.

RNZ National’s Kim Hill was on familiar ground and her interview with Wayne Brown was more than a little challenging for the mayor. RNZ mounted a “Midday Report Special” with Corin Dann that also tried to break through the murk, but I was left wondering why it had not been a Morning Report Special starting at 6 am.

Over the course of the weekend the amount of information provided by news media slowly built up. Both Sundays devoted six or seven pages to the floods but it was remiss of the Herald on Sunday not to carry an editorial, as did the Sunday Star Times.

It was also good to see Newsroom and The Spinoff — digital services not usually tied to breaking news of this kind — providing coverage.

“Live” updates on websites and news apps added local detail but there was no coherence, just a string of isolated events stretching back in time.

Overall, the amount of information I received as a citizen of the City of Sails was inadequate. Why?

Herein lie the lessons.

News media under-estimated the impact of the event. Although there were fewer deaths than in the Christchurch earthquake or the Whakaari White Island eruption, the scale of damage in economic and social terms will be considerable. The natural disaster warranted news media pulling out all the stops and, as they did on those occasions, move into schedule-changing mode (and that includes newspaper press deadlines).

Lesson #1: Do not allow natural disasters to occur on the eve of a long holiday weekend.

Media were, however, hampered by a lack of coherent information from official sources and emergency services. Brown’s visceral dislike of journalists was part of the problem but that was not the root cause. That fell into two parts.

The first was institutional disconnects in an overly complex emergency response structure which is undertaken locally, coordinated regionally and supported from the national level. This complexity was highlighted after another Auckland weather event in 2018 that saw widespread power outages.

The report on the response was resurrected in front page leads in the Dominion Post and The Press yesterday. It found uncoordinated efforts that did not use the models that had been developed for such eventualities, disagreements over what information should be included in situation reports, and under-estimation of effects.

Massey University director of disaster management Professor David Johnston told Stuff he believed the report would be exactly the same if it was recommissioned now because Auckland’s emergency management system was not fit for purpose — rather it was proving to be a good example of what not to do

Lesson #2: Learn the lessons of the past.

The 2018 report did, however, give a pass mark to the communication effort and noted that those involved thought they worked well with media and in communicating with the public through social media.

Can the same be said of the current disaster response when there “wasn’t time” to inform a number of news organisations (including Stuff) about Wayne Brown’s late Friday media conference, and when Whaka Kotahi staff responsible for providing updates clocked-off at 7.30 pm on Friday?

Is it timely for Auckland Transport to still display an 11.45 am Sunday “latest update” on its website 24 hours later? Is it relevant for a list of road closures accessed at noon yesterday to have actually been compiled at 7.35 pm the previous night? Why should a decision to keep Auckland schools closed until February 7 cause confusion in the sector simply because it was “last minute”?

Lesson #3: Ensure communications staff know the definition of emergency: A serious, unexpected, and potentially dangerous situation requiring immediate action.

There certainly was confusion over the failure to transmit a flood warning to all mobile phones in the city on Friday. The system worked perfectly on Sunday when MetService issued an orange Heavy Rain Warning.

It appears that emergency personnel believed posts on Facebook on Friday afternoon and evening were an effective way of communicating directly with the public. That is alarming because social media use is so fragmented that it is dangerous to make assumptions on how many people are being reached.

A study in 2020 of United States local authority communication about the covid pandemic showed a wide range of platforms being used and the recipients were far from attentive. The author of the study, Eric Zeemering, found not only were city communications fragmented across departments, but the public audience selectively fragmented itself through individual choices to follow some city social media accounts but not others.

In fact, more people were passing information about the flood to each other via Twitter than on Facebook and young people in particular were using TikTok for that purpose. Media organisations were reusing these posts almost as much as the official information that from some quarters was in short supply.

Lesson #4: When you need to communicate with the masses, use mass communication (otherwise known as news media).

Mistakes will always be made in fast changing emergencies but, having made a mistake, it is usual to go the extra yards to make amends. It beggars belief that Whaka Kotahi staff would fail to keep their website up to date on the Auckland situation when it is quite clear they received an enormous kick up the rear end from Transport Minister Michael Wood for clocking off when the heavens opened.

Or that Auckland Transport could be far behind the eight ball after turning travel arrangements for the (cancelled) Elton John concert into a fiasco.

After spending Friday evening holed up in his high-rise office away from nuisances like reporters attempting to inform the public, Mayor Brown justified his position with a strange definition of leadership then blamed others.

Sideswipe’s Anna Samways collected a number of tweets for her Monday Herald column. Among them was this: “Just saw one of the Wayne Brown press conferences. He sounded like a man coming home 4 hours late from the pub and trying to bull**** his Mrs about where he’d been.”

Lesson #5: When you’re in a hole, stop digging.

Dr Gavin Ellis holds a PhD in political studies. He is a media consultant and researcher. A former editor-in-chief of The New Zealand Herald, he has a background in journalism and communications — covering both editorial and management roles — that spans more than half a century. Dr Ellis publishes a website called Knightly Views where this commentary was first published and it is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A fourth person has been found dead as a result of New Zealand’s catastrophic floods on Friday, which have now spread to other parts of the country.

Police said in a statement that Search and Rescue, who had been looking for a person swept away by floodwaters in Waikato’s Onewhero, had found a man’s body.

Formal identification is yet to take place, but police believe it is the missing man.

The body was found by a drone operator, about one km from where he went missing.

“Police have been overwhelmed by the way the community has rallied around and gone above and beyond to assist with the search,” the statement said.

“Locals have offered their time and effort, food, and support to others around them at this extremely difficult time.”

At a media conference this afternoon, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni said the death of four people was “horrific”.

‘Traumatic experience’
“I think it’s been a traumatic experience … That’s the most horrific part of it that we’ve lost lives.

“Clearly alongside every Aucklander and New Zealander we share in our condolences and sadness with that person’s family.”

In previous media conferences, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins had also passed on their condolences to the families of those who have died.

Earlier today, police named 34-year-old Daniel Mark Miller as another victim of the floods.

Miller was found dead in a culvert on Target Road in Wairau Valley on Friday.

“Police extend their sympathies to his family and friends.”

Another person was found dead after a landslide brought down a house on Remuera’s Shore Rd.

MOTAT volunteer
RNZ understands that the man was a beloved volunteer at Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT), Dave Lennard.

Friends are paying tribute to him on social media.

Stuff reports that Lennard, in his 80s, was much loved at MOTAT.

“He was one of those guys who could make anything and teach himself how to use new equipment with ease,” friend Evan James told Stuff.

A fourth person was also found dead in a flooded carpark on Link Drive, Wairau Valley at 12.30am on Saturday morning.

All deaths will be referred to the coroner, police said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Countdown to Chaos: As Aucklanders were desperately seeking safety, officials were silent https://t.co/9UJfoke7XQ

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 29, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has acknowledged the way Aucklanders have come together and opened their homes to those in need, with the New Zealand government focused on providing the resources needed to get the city back up and running.

The new prime minister — just four days into the job — has been speaking to media after assessing flood damage and talking to locals around West Auckland this afternoon.

Hipkins was joined by Auckland mayor Wayne Brown and Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty in northwest Auckland.

With three deaths now confirmed, the prime minister offered his condolences to the families of the deceased.

He said he was focused on supporting Aucklanders through this event and providing the full resources to get Auckland back up and running in the safest way possible

“I want to focus on getting Auckland through the next period.”

Hipkins said the government’s priority was to ensure Aucklanders were housed. He said there was an assessment of public and community housing underway today.

Having surveyed the damage, he said it was clear it was going to be a big clean up job after Auckland’s wettest day on record.

Watch a live stream here
PM Chris Hipkins and mayor Wayne Brown speaking.      Video: RNZ News

Hipkins said it was important for Aucklanders to avoid unnecessary travel and to stay out of the water.

He said this was the time to check in with loved ones and “take care of each other”.

He acknowledged the way Aucklanders had come together and opened their homes to those in need, when dealing with an unprecedented event in recent memory

The prime minister said Aucklanders should expect more rain — “don’t take the good weather for now for granted”.

Hipkins thanked those working in the emergency services, the lines companies, supermarkets and health sector.

‘Tough night for all’
Mayor Wayne Brown said last night was a “tough night for all”.

Brown said he shared concerns and worries for families deeply affected — especially those who had lost their lives.

He said the response to the storm last night took a lot of concentration, happened quickly and the response was way quicker than people believed.

“Everyone was out there way before [the emergency was declared] and lasted all night long.”

He said he followed the advice of the professionals when deciding whether to declare an emergency.

“It’s not something you do lightly.”

He said the council would review “everything that took place”.

‘Lessons to be learned’
Hipkins said he accepted people would have questions and observations — and there would be an appropriate time soon to go through those.

“There will be lessons to be learned from the experience.

“The most important thing is supporting Auckland through the next 24 hours and beyond.”

Duty Controller Andrew Clark from Auckland Emergency Management said the event was “beyond anything we’ve ever seen”.

He said rescuing people was the priority, while also providing shelter for those in need.

“We had a crisis within a crisis.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Auckland flooding: Third death confirmed after body found in Remuera house https://t.co/DW8P4F1kMG

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) January 28, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Three people are dead and at least one person is missing following the flooding overnight in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

About 1000 people were still stranded today after Auckland Airport was closed last night because of flooding of the arrival and departure foyers. Flights were cancelled for the morning but domestic flights resumed in the afternoon.

Police responded to a call after a man was found dead in a flooded culvert in Wairau Valley, about 7.30pm last night.

The spokesperson said police were called to a flooded carpark on Link Drive, also in Wairau Valley, after a report of another man found dead about 12.30am on Saturday.

Inquiries into the circumstances of both deaths were ongoing, police said.

Police are also investigating reports of a man having been swept away by floodwaters in Onewhero shortly after 10pm on Friday.

A search and rescue team will deploy today to search for the missing man.

Landslide brings down house
Emergency services also responded to a landslide that brought down a house on Shore Road, Remuera about half past seven. One person remains unaccounted for and the property will be assessed this morning.

Police continue to urge people to stay home and not drive unless absolutely necessary today.

Police said they were continuing to respond to a high number of calls after the severe weather.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said staff would today be assessing what damage had occurred and what steps needed to be taken next.

He declared a state of emergency last night that will remain in force for seven days.

Unprecedented flooding
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the flooding in Auckland was an unprecedented event.

Hipkins said more should been known in a few hours about how bad the damage was after a day of torrential flooding.

He was with a team at the Beehive bunker overnight, talking to the teams coordinating the response in Auckland.

Hipkins said it was difficult to get information about what is going on but up to 1000 people were still stranded at Auckland airport, and right across the region there were many people just simply stuck somewhere where they would not normally be early on a Saturday morning — including in their car, or at a business.

MetService said the airport had smashed its all-time record for rainfall in a single 24-hour period — recording 249mm yesterday, beating the previous record set nearly four decades in 1985 — 161.8mm.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Record breaking rain in Auckland. Although the heavy band of rain has moved off to the east there is still a change of showers so the total for rainfall could climb even higher. The impacts of the last 24 hours will be felt by many in Auckland for a long time. Take care out there pic.twitter.com/kiIm6Tsrro

— MetService (@MetService) January 27, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The race for the Auckland mayoralty ends this weekend in the Aotearoa New Zealand local elections and polls indicate that either Pacific contender Fa’anānā Efeso Collins or Wayne Brown will claim the chains.

RNZ News spoke to some prominent Aucklanders about who they believe should get the city’s top job.

Former world heavyweight boxing title contender David Tua said he was firmly in the corner of Efeso Collins.

Tua believed Collins would be a mayor for all, in particular the youth.

“At the end of the day they are our future and I believe he is a man the youth can relate to.”

Tua said Collins had a humanitarian nature.

“What he’s standing for is for the people, all the people. It’s always about the people and I believe that’s what he’s about.”

The ‘man for the job’
Advocate Shaneel Lal believes Collins is the man for the job due to the past support he has shown to the LGBTQI+ community.

Lal said Collins had progressed in his views and proved he had a backbone when he offered help during their campaign to ban conversion therapy.

“We need to give people room for growth, he advocated against same-sex marriage in 2012, the bill passed in 2013, in those 10 years he has come on a long journey of learning, that was 10 years ago and to me he clearly has changed.”

Lal said Collins had the temperament for the job.

“I also think Efeso is calm and collected and open to ideas and change, he has always been respectful to me and spoken with kindness even when he has disagreed with me.”

Former North Shore mayor George Wood is backing Wayne Brown.

“Wayne has already run a district council I think that will give him good knowledge of what it is like to run a local government organisation.”

Wood said Brown did have some room for improvement, however.

“He does have a tendency to say things off the cuff without realising the significance of what he is saying and it is an area he will have to improve that communication.”

Getting the balance right
Prominent activist Lisa Prager said Brown would get her tick.

“Wayne has the experience in both the corporate environment and also understands small local businesses so he understands what this city needs and how to get that balance right.”

Prager said council needed restructuring which Brown could deliver.

“I think it is excessive in its spending and failing to deliver the essential services that we all need.”

Actor Oscar Kightley said as a fellow Samoan man, Collins was the clear choice.

“When you are Samoan you experience different aspects of life Aotearoa including prejudice and discrimination and when you’ve fought through that and succeeded it just gives you skills to see the bigger picture.”

Kightley said it was time for change.

“I love how he’s changed his approach from when he first entered council, I think he’s really listened to all the diverse voices out there.”

Making a difference
Well-known celebrant Ronny Franks is voting Brown.

“I think he would make a huge difference, I think there could be good changes, particularly with Auckland Transport and other areas that are sort of lagging behind at the moment.”

Franks believed Brown’s personality would serve him well in office, despite the occasional gaffe.

“He’s a no nonsense man, he probably does rattle a lot of feathers but when you have to get something done you have to get it done and there is a right way of doing it and he does things the right way.”

Monday was the last day to get votes in the post but there are vote boxes at supermarkets, transport hubs and council buildings around Tāmaki Makaurau.

Auckland has a population of 1.7 million.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz