Inside the crunch decisions for Auckland Council and its voters

TLDR: I spoke this week in the podcast above to NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson about the election campaign for the Auckland Council that ends this weekend. In particular, we looked at the potential makeup of the new council and the attributes of Mayoralty contenders Efeso Collins and Wayne Brown.

This election is crucial for Auckland’s future, given the huge decisions needed in the next couple of years around mode shift from cars to walking and cycling, and whether Auckland’s housing densification plans are sufficient.

We talked through the particular sets of skills and attributes of Collins and Brown to be Mayor. The long story short: Brown, 76, has a combative and reactionary approach that is less likely to build the necessary agreements on those issues above with fellow councillors and the Government than Collins, 48, who is a two-term councillor.

For more reading on this issue, here’s all of Simon’s articles via NZ Herald-$$$ on the election campaign, including this piece on Wayne Brown and this piece on Efeso Collins.

I spoke with Efeso Collins in this podcast recorded on Monday. Wayne Brown declined a request for an interview with me earlier in the campaign.

Ka kite ano

Bernard