Q: What’s top of your agenda for your first week?
A: My priority is to get stuck in to the budget planning process to keep average rate rises to 2.5 per cent or lower and make efficiency savings of at least 3 per cent across the council organisation. I plan to meet with the councillors throughout this week, CCO chairs and chief executives, as well as council staff who will be briefing me on issues and concerns.
Q: How are you planning to get to work in the morning?
A: Today, my press secretary will be picking me up from Mt Roskill in her car for media interviews beginning at 6.30am in the city. Where I live in Ardmore is more than 10km from public transport, so I’ll be using my car or motorbike to get to work although from time to time I will catch the train from south Auckland.
Q: Where would you take visitors to Auckland?
A: My wife Mary and I have an old-fashioned kiwi bach at Orere Point where we relax and enjoy the views over the gulf. Otherwise I like to take people up Mt Eden, One Tree Hill or Bastion Point for the best views of the city.
Q: Do you drink coffee or tea?
A: I try to stick to one coffee a day and otherwise tea or water.
Q: How would you like Auckland to have changed in 20 years?
A: I would like to see Auckland become one of the world’s best-performing cities. I want the city to be a place where talented, enterprising people can thrive, where we care about each other and our environment and are inclusive.
I hope that in two decades’ time, people will find it easier to afford their own home and that we won’t be sitting in our cars wasting precious hours on clogged motorways. There is a lot of work to do before that vision can be realised but we need to make the difficult decisions now rather than leave the problems that we’re facing for another generation to deal with.
Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I like physical work on the farm and going to rugby and league games. I also enjoy spending time relaxing at Orere Point and riding my motorbike.
Q: Are you a dog or a cat person?
A: I’m a dog person. I have a huntaway cross called Belle who is meant to be a farm dog but is too much of a pet to do that job really well.
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge facing Auckland Council?
A: At a local level, our challenge is to make Auckland the best-performing council in New Zealand. The other significant challenge is to work with central government to stop worsening traffic congestion becoming gridlock and reversing Auckland’s increasing housing unaffordability.