Stuff Auckland mayoral debate: Challenger John Tamihere rips into incumbent Phil Goff's inequality plans
Monday, 2 September 2019
Auckland mayoral wannabe John Tamihere has launched another attack on high-earning council staffers, taking particular exception to chief executive Stephen Town's pay packet.
Tamihere and fellow contenders, incumbent Phil Goff, Jannaha Henry and Craig Lord squared off during Stuff's Auckland mayoral debate, held in partnership with AUT and the University of Auckland.
Tamihere savaged council executives' pay, and Goff's efforts to reduce inequality, during the opening exchanges of Monday's debate.
It came after Goff pointed to policies already in place, like the living wage for council workers, which he has promised to extend to contractors, and Housing First, which the mayor said had housed 1000 people.
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'The next council under my leadership will extend that to the remaining people that still need to be paid,' Goff assured hundreds of ratepayers at Fisher & Paykell auditorium.
Tamihere was quick to hit back.
'If you think homelessness in this city has been fixed up by this mayor walk down Queen St from 7am on to 9am,' he said.
'I did this morning … it is not being fixed.'
Tamihere has announced an eyebrow-raising inequality plan of his own, headlined by a hotline to remove beggars from the streets.
The challenger lauded Auckland Council's living wage policy, but attacked council staffers for contributing to inequality, taking aim at Town's $690,000 package
'The CEO of this council is paid more than the the CEO of LA, more than the CEO of London,' he claimed.
'The disparity in salaries being paid at the top end of this town and the huge inequalities within the whole of council from the CCOs .. is just unacceptable.
'You can't pretend to look after the bottom end of town by pretending to pay the lowest dollar value on a liveable wage and allow that huge inequality all the way through the whole of the council.'
Tamihere has made a habit of targeting council staff salaries in his campaign, suggesting pay cuts as a cost saving measure should his rates freeze policy make it past the Governing Body.
However, dropping staff salaries would require employee agreement in most cases.
The leading candidates clashed on a stalemate between Panuku Development and the Tamihere-led Ngai Tai Waipareira Housing over the level of social housing at the Tavern Lane development in Papatoetoe.
'The issue is you cannot fix homelessness if this mayor caps social housing on public land,' Tamihere said.
He went on to indicate the Human Rights Commission had not made a decision over its investigation into his complaint over council's handling of the Tavern Lane Development, a claim slammed by Goff.
'I read the same letter he did, it arrived today,' the mayor said.
The Human Rights Commission is not taking your complaint further … that's the truth and in this age of Trumpism we need to keep to the truth.'
Goff argued the best way of getting a decent development was having equal shares of social, affordable and market housing.
Following the debate, Tamihere's team said going to the commission was them going to the 'gate keeper'.
'The 'gate keeper' has accepted NTWHL's reason for wishing to move straight on to [the tribunal].
'That is where NTWHL's claim is now to be considered. What has occurred was entirely predictable,' they said.
CLIMATE CHANGE CLASH
Craig Lord drew a mixed response from the crowd when the candidates were quizzed on how they would tackle climate change.
'The planet's climate is always changing,'
'Anyone who just booed realised that the planet does change and man has made an effect on it.'
But Lord did offer some solutions, naming a number of projects he'd attempt to intervene in as mayor.
'One of the things I'll do is stop the ridiculous removal of bush … that the council are quite happy to let Watercare look at,' Goff said.
'They want to wipe out 3.5 hectares.'
He also opposed the Dome Valley landfill being built on a 'pristine piece' of land and the dumping of sediment near Great Barrier Island.
Henry, running as part of a part of a nationwide grouping of younger candidates, hit back at Lord's comments.
'We are all to be accountable for what we use, we are all to be accountable for what we do,' she said.
'It's for your children, it's for your children's children. It's not about us.'
Goff pointed to his to his promise not to purchase any carbon-omitting public transport vehicles post-2025.
'I want to bring that forward,' he promised.
'I want to move as quickly as we can to electrification of our buses, we'll electrify the rest of the train line – that will happen in the next three years.'
Goff pledged a 'significant growth' in electric and hydrogen buses and that council buildings would be highly rated on the green star ratio.
'What we have to do most of all as a city is to work with Government to address the problem that 47 per cent of our omissions are coming from our transport system.'