John Banks has refused to say whether he is considering running for the Auckland mayoralty next year, but has not ruled the possibility out.
"That's a long way off – I've got to get to next year, you know," Mr Banks told TV3's Paul Henry show this morning.
"The mayoralty's very interesting…I'll give it time and we'll think about it, it's wide open and we need better leadership in Auckland, that's for sure," he said.
"What a wonderful two terms in office as the Mayor of Auckland, I'm very, very grateful for that and I've still got a lot of fight left in me."
Yesterday Crown Law was cleared of wrongdoing in the case against Mr Banks, who was acquitted in May of charges relating to falsely declaring donations from Kim Dotcom during his failed 2010 Auckland mayoralty bid, with the Court of Appeal ruling he shouldn't be retried.
Mr Banks wanted Solicitor-General Mike Heron QC stood down and an inquiry held into the case, but Attorney-General Chris Finlayson yesterday said Mr Heron was "outstanding" in his role and said he had full confidence in him.
Mr Banks said Mr Finlayson's investigation into the case was not good enough.
"He's the Solicitor-General's boss and he's decided to investigate the Solicitor-General because the Court of Appeal has said that the Solicitor-General's behaviour and Crown Law's behaviour has caused a serious miscarriage of justice - it should have been done independently, this whole case should have been reviewed independently," said Mr Banks.
"He's rubbed-stamped the very bad behaviour of Crown Law condemned in the Court of Appeal which caused a serious miscarriage of justice."
Watch the full interview with John Banks.
