Auckland Mayor in hot seat

The first Governing Body meeting of the new Auckland Council term got off to a rocky start when all three Samoan councillors – Alf Filipaina, Fuli Lotu and Josephine Bartley – found themselves seated together.

Filipaina, who arrived late to the meeting, was concerned that they had been “put into a little box”.

“That is how I personally feel and it is important that I say this now … to ensure that that is not the case,” Filipaina said. 

He also pointed out that his name was misspelt on his placard, and was unhappy when Mayor Wayne Brown laughed at the issue. 

“As you know, Your Worship, the spelling of anybody’s name is crucial to their whakapapa – I just didn’t like the fact that you laughed at that, Your Worship.” 

Brown said he was hoping to mix the councillors up rather than mirror the party split seen in central government.

“I did not really want to have it looking like Parliament where we had all the blues on one side and the reds on the other,” Brown said. 

“If you notice, unfortunately, I have managed to get a lot of Pākehā together as well, but there was no intention there either, all right?” 

All three Samoan councillors are Labour affiliated, so Brown’s attempt to step away from party splitting appeared unsuccessful.

Cr Filipaina was allowed to swap seats after the discussion.