The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is calling on Mayor Wayne Brown to front up and answer questions following reporting by Newsroom that he awarded more than $300,000 in Mayoral office contracts to a close friend and business partner and failed to declare two jointly owned companies in the Council's register of interests.

“It’s a terrible look—the Mayor needs to front up” said Sam Warren, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance.

"The Newsroom reporting is a test of the institutional safeguards against self-dealing. Does Auckland Council's conflict of interest policies mean anything at all, or are they just a fig leaf? If the Council can't deal with this in a robust and transparent manner, it's appropriate for the Auditor-General to step in."

"This isn't the first time the Super City has had a Mayor award jobs to 'mates'. Disgraced former Mayor Len Brown appointed his mistress as an 'ethnic advisor', although the amounts in the Wayne Brown case appear to be significantly larger."

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