March 27th, 2009

Auckland Governance
Kohia te kai rangatira, ruia te taitea
“Gather the best, reject the bad”

Heart of the City Chief Executive Alex Swney welcomed the recommendation to introduce Maori representation on the proposed new Auckland Council by coining a Maori proverb. “Gather the best, reject the bad,” said Swney.

” The challenge over the next 18 months will be to pull together the best people and best practices across the region, and soundly reject the worst,” said Swney.

“Having a single Mayor and powering up the Mayor’s Office will get us away from the current squabbling mayor syndrome and certainly gives the region one clear voice. Clearly we’ll need a very capable Mayor, someone with both experience and a clear vision for Auckland,” said Swney.

Swney says that the simplified structure prescribed in the Commission’s report is the sort of medicine Auckland needs, and that in particular the acknowledgement of the importance of the CBD with special governance arrangement was a big step forward. “For too long Auckland’s waterfront has been neglected, and the report offers hope that we will now be able to get on and build the waterfront that New Zealand’s flagship international city needs,” says Swney.

Ends

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