Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown tells magazine ‘your paper will die’ after critical op-ed

Tuesday, 21 July 2026

The editor of Ponsonby News is not happy with Wayne Brown after the mayor sent a “threatening” email to the magazine in response to a column.

“If you are just going to publish Mike Lee bagging me then your paper will die,” Brown said in the email.

Ponsonby News editor Martin Leach said the email was “pretty disgusting”, but Brown has defended his comments.

The editor of Ponsonby News says they will no longer run columns by Wayne Brown after the Auckland mayor sent what they described as a “threatening” email to the magazine.

Brown’s email focused on an opinion piece by Waitematā and Gulf Ward councillor Mike Lee, in which Lee criticised the mayor over Auckland Council’s rates increase.

In the email, sent on July 3, Brown said, “if you are just going to publish Mike Lee bagging me then your paper will die”.

Ponsonby News editor Martin Leach told Stuff on Tuesday he was disappointed by the mayor’s email.

“I thought it was pretty disgusting, to be honest with you,” he said.

Leach said Lee writes a monthly column for the magazine and often discusses issues that people are divided over.

“This time he wrote about the proposed rates increase, 7.9%, which is quite high. And he was just talking about the fact that the mayor had said this wouldn’t happen.”

In the column, Lee questioned whether Brown was really “fixing Auckland”, when the council voted to increase rates.

“So, in terms of ‘fixing Auckland’, if you think increasing rates revenue by more than $1 billion a year and adding debt at a rate of around $1.18 billion every year amounts to fixing Auckland, then I have a bridge to sell you,” Lee wrote.

Speaking to Stuff on Tuesday, Lee said there was nothing abusive in his column and that it “just set out the reality” in terms of rates compared with Brown’s “claim to be fixing Auckland”.

In a text message, Lee said Brown’s email was “troubling”.

“This is intimidation to say the least and another unfortunate example of a pattern of ugly behaviour on the part of the person who is the mayor of Auckland,” he said.

Brown, though, has defended his comments, telling Stuff on Tuesday that Leach had offered to sell him the magazine business.

“Those at Ponsonby News were trying to sell the paper to me and in my email to Martin Leach I was pointing out that it was bad business to do what he was doing.”

Brown said “this has nothing to do with the freedom of press,” noting that instead of responding to him, his email was “made public”.

Leach said he had met Brown before on several occasions and described him as “very likeable”.

“I was really [surprised] because he’s meant to be somebody that we look up to. I was just a bit shocked that he would say that.”

He said he believes in freedom of speech and that he doesn’t stop his columnists saying “what they might want to say”.

“I mean, it’s about healthy debate. It’s about freedom of speech. I’ve been publishing magazines since 1990, and I have always said the same thing.“

Brown’s arrangement with Ponsonby News to publish a monthly column may now come to an end, Leach said, with his business partner telling him, “We we’re not running any more columns for the mayor”.

This is not the first time Brown has come under fire in 2026 for his language.

In April, Brown referred to an RNZ staff member of Indian descent as “a Muslim terrorist” and commented on his beard as the man escorted him into the building for an interview.

Brown later said the comments were a “fumbled attempt at humour” and apologised to the man.