Auditor-General rightly kills off Mayor’s gung-ho attempt

“I’m pleased for Auckland ratepayers that the Audit Office has now stepped in and overridden the Mayor on his gung-ho attempt to push through the City Rail Link as soon as possible without the Government and without any funding certainty. Advancing with greater certainty was what a few of us called for last month but the Mayor didn’t want to know about it back then,” says Auckland Councillor for Orakei, Cameron Brewer.

“The proposition that the Mayor and most councillors pushed for last month was outrageous and irresponsible. Putting $854m in the council’s budget for the next three years alone on the sole assumption that the Government would pay for half from 1 July 2015 was completely pie in the sky. Thank goodness the country’s most senior auditor has now intervened.

“Last month I said there was more chance of Father Christmas coming to the party next year than the Government but was scoffed at with the Mayor giving councillors absolute assurance that this approach was the right and responsible one. He has now thankfully been pulled into line. I’m pleased the Auditor General has put an end to all this nonsense to rush this massive and mostly unfunded project through in its entirety from July.

“Auckland Transport told me last month they couldn’t even spend that budgeted money even if the Government came through, so to load up the budget was completely reckless and has backfired badly. It was all about the Mayor calling the new Minister of Transport’s bluff. It failed badly, and Len Brown’s bravado and desperation will certainly set back Wellington’s confidence and trust somewhat.

“The Auditor-General has long raised concerns about this project. The Mayor needs to focus his energy on actually delivering real funding solutions and not worry about desperately fast-tracking.

“Sadly with him polling at 3% in popularity, this project is all he has left so he is naturally trying anything and risking everything. But this is huge public money he’s dicing with.

“A few of us put up several amendments last month to achieve just what the Audit Office has now demanded but the Mayor either voted against them or threw them out with the support of management and most councillors. At the time he told us he was right and we were wrong but thankfully we have an all-powerful independent watchdog in Wellington that is thinking well beyond political survival,” says Cameron Brewer.

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