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… Wayne’s words
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown was in Warkworth last month for the Northern Action Group AGM. Mahurangi Matters went along hoping that three years of battling bureaucracy at the top had not diluted his predilection for straight-talking without giving a flying expletive if anyone might be offended. We were not disappointed …
On his leadership style: “Leadership style is a really dumb-sh** thing they write about in the press – it’s not about leadership style, it’s what you get done.”
On the election and politics: “The Herald guys said ‘you’re electioneering’, and I said no, I just did what I said I’d do – electioneering is when you promise stuff you’ve got no intention of doing.
“That’s what the main parties do and I’m not involved in either of them – that’s a choice between cancer and polio.”
On political parties not working in rural areas: “They don’t work in the city, either.”
On Auckland Transport: “AT knows I’m coming for them but they’re still trying to imagine it’s not going to happen. I had the chairman in today and he’s waffling on, he had a thing there called Document Reorganisation & Allocation – what the f* is that? I don’t speak that sh.
“I said to him you’ve got to understand mate, if I get back, and I’m hopeful of getting back, you guys are just going to be a bus company. You’re just going to do public transport and that’s a big enough thing to do anywhere. Concentrate on that.”
On Local Boards’ powers, or lack of them: “Just take the authority! You’ve got money – don’t listen to your staff; you want to make some [more] money, sack the advisers. If you’re put in charge, take charge – that’s what I did.
“The whole point of having local boards is to make local decisions.”
On Auckland’s Chinese population: “They’re good citizens – they don’t do bad stuff, they run businesses, so I’m quite keen on them.”
On senior citizens: “Old people spend money, old people don’t steal your car, old people are good people, mate! Old people buy stuff and fill the shops. Tell Arvida to come back and build one of their retirement villages in the middle of town.”
On seismic rules for Auckland: “They’re stupid. We have volcanoes, we don’t have earthquakes. Wellington has earthquakes … just not big enough ones if you ask me.”
On the Environment Court: “They’re a bunch of failed lawyers who continue to overrule council decisions to allow development on land that’s not suitable for it.”
On central government: “Auckland council is big, it’s really huge. They’ve created us and we’re really like a regional government. I get more votes than Te Pati Maori or blooming Act. If I was a party, I’d be nine MPs – that’d lift the bloody IQ, wouldn’t it?”
On staying the night at Warkworth Wharf in his boat: “Had a lovely night, and next morning when the tide came in, I turned the boat around only to discover that it’s a bit longer than the distance from one side to the other, and I got stuck.
“I thought that would look bad on the front page of the local paper, stuck like in the Suez Canal, but fortunately I had a small axe in the back. I pruned a bit of the native growth on the other side and probably lost three Green votes I never would have got in the first place.”
And on one of Mahurangi Matters’ columnists: “There was some p**** saying if you’re at the beach, look out for Wayne Brown, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, tell him to swim between the flags … Jeez, I’d get the flag and I’d shove it up his backside!”
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