Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has made a bold threat to the new Government if they continue to stifle Auckland with what he calls "nonsense" rules and regulations.
Speaking with Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking on Thursday morning, Brown made clear that if the central government "really p*** me off, they won't last".
Brown made the comments alongside the commencement of the city's new 10-year budget process which began at an all-day committee meeting at Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday.
Brown said he has continually been frustrated with the Government's "foisted" consultation on the budget plans.
"You get elected to get on with the job, the Government don’t consult on hardly anything, especially not their budgets, but they’ve foisted this consultation stuff on the local government."
Brown said that Auckland council has been at odds with central government for a long time, something he hopes will change under the new National led government.
Brown was currently concerned about the inability of Auckland council to set parking fines without pushback.
"People in Wellington think that there’s 1.6 million people up here and not one of them is clever enough to set the parking fines and I’m fed up with that sort of nonsense," Brown said.
Another concern for the Mayor is crime.
It was revealed on Wednesday that Auckland's safety rankings have fallen for the third time, making it the 124th in safety out of 195.
He argued that turning empty commercial buildings in Auckland CBD into residential buildings would bring crime down, but this is proving to be an uphill battle.
Other weak spots the report found for Auckland included innovation which placed within the bottom five in the Asia–Pacific region and traffic.
"The city's traffic performance, measuring commute time, ride dissatisfaction, network inefficiencies, and CO2 emissions, worsened since 2022 with the city in the bottom group of cities Auckland compares with," Committee for Auckland director Mark Thomas said.
During Wednesday's committee meeting, Brown said there was a strong focus on the Waitamatā crossing, something he believes won't happen in his lifetime due to the massive price tag and low demand.
Brown also signalled rates will rise to account for City Rail Link's operational costs once it's up and running.
Additionally, a 13.75 percent increase is being proposed for 2024 as the council discusses long-term plans for water infrastructure, saying the only alternative to dramatic rate rises would be significant cuts to essential services.
