Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere has been compared to Donald Trump after his latest election promise.
On Monday Tamihere went big, promising to freeze rates, scrap the regional fuel tax, and ask landlords to hold off on raising rents.
But it's his plan to build an 18 lane Harbour Bridge and get central government to pay for it that's earned him the title of New Zealand's Donald Trump.
- John Tamihere calls on landlords to 'reflect deeply on their conscience' and freeze rents
- John Tamihere proposes new 18-lane Auckland Harbour Bridge
"It's a little bit like Donald Trump promising to build the wall and Mexico is going to pay for it - the government is apparently going to pay for everything despite the fact he is willingly promising to cut his own revenue source," said current mayor Phil Goff.
Goff says Tamihere will say anything to get elected - just like Trump.
Critics ridiculed Tamihere's plans, saying they will plunge the city into an eight billion dollar hole and be impossible to follow through on.
"I'll say what I need to say 'cause I understand business and understand rebuilding a financial balance sheet in the city," Tamihere told Newshub.
But Goff disagrees.
"The promises he's making are simply dishonest and untrue. They can't be delivered on and he knows it," said Goff.
"What I'm saying is he's being willfully ignorant."
Tamihere has also vowed to mothball part of the Central Rail Link, sell the Port and take a knife to council spending.
Tamihere says he doesn't see himself as Trump-like.
But like Trump, who took on the Washington swamp and won Tamihere says he's also prepared to take on the establishment and he's hoping for a similar result.
We all know how it worked out for Trump, which is why it's made the Auckland Mayoral race so interesting.
Newshub.
