Auckland mayor Phil Goff's top advisor David Wood has gone

Friday, 18 October 2019

Auckland mayor Phil Goff starts his second term but without his closest advisor David Wood

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff's top advisor and the architect of his financial policies has abruptly left his position.

David Wood, the director of finance and policy, was not part of the mayor's office staff for his second term, as re-appointments were rolled out this week.

Newly re-elected Phil Goff returns to his mayoral office.

The mayor's office would not elaborate on any detail surrounding the exit, saying it has a policy of not commenting on individual employment contracts. Stuff understands that his contract was not renewed.

However Wood in a statement to Stuff said he had earlier signalled the move.

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'I told the mayor some time ago I wanted to move on to other career opportunities, and it was decided the best time was the end of his first term in office,' he said.

'Auckland Council has a policy of not commenting on individual employment contracts,' said Nirupa George, the chief of staff in Goff's office.

All staff in the mayor's office are employed for a political term, with contracts that expire on election day, and re-hiring began this week.

Wood, a past deputy secretary at Treasury, had worked closely with Goff on his 2016 mayoral campaign, devising pledges such as cutting council spending by 3-6 per cent.

His influence on Goff's view then, that the Auckland Council had a 'cost-plus' budgeting approach, was reflected in a 2016 interview that Wood gave to the National Business Review.

'The culture across the public service has changed, and I think it's changed permanently – and it's that sort of change in attitude that we need in Auckland Council also,' he told NBR.

Wood was part of an inner circle of staff that Goff brought from his parliamentary past in Wellington, to form the core of the mayoral office.

He had worked as an economic advisor to Goff from 2006-7, when the mayor was then the Minister of both Defence and Trade.

The mayoral office released to Stuff in 2018, salary bands for those in his office without identifying them, but Wood was understood to be receiving a salary described as $280,000-$300,000.

Wood had ruffled feathers at times in the higher levels of the council, as the Goff mayoral office took a more assertive role in driving financial policy, than had occurred under Goff's predecessor Len Brown in the first two council terms.

As director of finance and policy, Wood worked on an early Goff initiative, adding a $14 million targeted rate to visitor accommodation businesses, a controversial move on which the council has spent $1.2m in the High Court, defending a challenge by accommodation providers.

The court's decision on the legality of the rate is still awaited.

The mayor's office would not comment on whether any other staff had not continued into Goff's second term, as the hiring process was ongoing.