My Account
It was standing room only at a Meet the Mayoral Candidates meeting held in Orewa on September 4.
The meeting was hosted by the Orewa Ratepayers & Residents Association and more than 100 people packed into Orewa Community Hall to hear from those who hope to be Mayor of Auckland.
All 19 mayoral candidates were invited, but just four turned up – Vic Crone, Phil Goff, Alezix Heneti and Mark Thomas.
Fiscal restraint was a theme taken up by all four candidates.
Alezix Heneti promised “productive restraint” and frugality, and it was clear that re-prioritising Council spending towards core services and infrastructure, as well as increasing efficiencies within Council was something that all the candidates hope to address if elected. The need to cut duplications, bureaucracy and waste was frequently mentioned.
Vic Crone’s statement that she would “take back control of our CCOs, bringing back the chain of command,” drew enthusiastic applause from the audience, as did Mark Thomas’ promise to restructure Auckland Transport, setting up regional transport boards with the aim of getting key local projects up the priority list.
Phil Goff said that obtaining more support from central Government would be a key focus along with stopping land banking and “changing the culture” within Council.
