Auckland needs to rethink perilous short-term view of its place in the world

Friday, 25 March 2022

Auckland Council has unveiled a new plan to boost Māori and Pasifika businesses in south and West Auckland (Video from November 2021).

Todd Niall is a Stuff journalist based in Auckland

OPINION: Two years of living in a global pandemic has understandably narrowed many peoples’ focus to getting through the next week, or sometimes even the day.

The release of Koi Tū’s report – Reimagining Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland: Harnessing the Region’s Potential – on how Auckland needs to lift its ambitions, and talk about where it wants to be in 70 years, was a sharp reminder of the city’s slide into short-term thinking.

The year-long research, including hundreds of interviews, is aimed at starting debate on what Auckland could and should be, rather than just what it can afford to be in the next year or three.

The dozen years since Auckland’s then-radical local body amalgamation have seen progress in a “much better than it would have been” way, but early ambitions have been dulled by reality.

* Auckland Council super city merger not perfect but 'better' than what came before

* Is Auckland's grip on its destiny being loosened by the Government?

A 2018 photo opportunity with PM Jacinda Ardern, then Housing Minister Phil Twyford and Auckland mayor Phil Goff.

The Royal Commission which proposed amalgamation had designs for formal ties between Auckland Council and the government, and a big social agenda – both called for by Koi Tū.

These were stripped out by the National coalition which implemented the plan, creating a more two-dimensional structure focused on efficiency rather than ambition.

The Auckland-government disconnect pointed to by Koi Tū has been a recurring theme in the past 12 years.

The number of fines issued as a result of Auckland drivers being in the Khyber Pass Road bus lane have increased.

National’s imposed Housing Accord, which accelerated building in areas without the infrastructure to support it, the arm wrestle over the City Rail Link, and then under Labour the shambles for several years around light rail and the on-again off-again second Harbour Crossing are just a few examples.

The 2012 Auckland Plan had as a priority something called The Southern Initiative, a proposal to hook up government’s big spending in the poorer south with council’s grassroots connections, to improve health, housing, education and employment.

The government wasn’t interested at first, but later did help fund trial programmes, which were useful but on a scale far smaller than the challenge demanded.

The challenge outlined by Koi Tū is new territory for Aucklanders, as was the 2010 amalgamation.

Artist's impression of an Auckland Council-proposed 'Eco Park' of recycling and circular economy businesses, phase two of a plan to boost the number of Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses in the south and west.

But as residents of the country’s only international-scale city – with potential, according to Koi Tū, to comprise 50 per cent of the country’s economy – Aucklanders need to think about things differently, and look more closely at new ideas under way in progressive cities overseas.

Phil Goff’s leadership over two terms as mayor have been characterised by worthy but largely technical progress, accelerating infrastructure build, and with a slow start on tackling climate change action.

It is easy to blame the significant impact of Covid-19, but during one full term before its arrival in 2020 there was no sign of heroic long-term vision.

Glimpses of bold vision have emerged, the Southern Initiative’s ambitious plan to lift Māori and Pasifika lives in south and west Auckland under a proposed recycling economy umbrella is a rare and overdue example of a focus on improving social equity.

The report, commissioned by the council’s economic and culture agency Auckland Unlimited, avoids looking back and floated nine areas that should be explored for attention.

Improving social cohesion in one of the world’s most diverse cities is one, another is trialling new ways of getting Aucklanders engaged in decision-making – rather than a low-turnout triennial election, and largely cookie-cutter consultation approaches.

Others were whether Auckland could become a National Park city, and have a more wide-ranging approach to innovation, and education, bringing Universities more into civic affairs.

A Commission for Future Generations to help shape longer term decision-making, and a more connected relationship between city and government politician and bureaucrats.

The world is full of cities building dramatically on their strengths to make them more desirable places to live in, move to, and to visit, Auckland needs to make sure it doesn’t get left behind.