Yeah, Nah: Do you think Wayne Brown is doing a good job as Auckland's mayor?

Thursday, 2 February 2023

Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown has come under sustained criticism for his handling of the floods.

There have been calls for him to resign over his perceived delay in declaring a state of emergency as rain hammered the region on Friday night.

Motorways were underwater and a person had died in a flooded culvert before the document was signed.

Later, it emerged that Brown had messaged members of his tennis-playing group that evening, telling them he could not play the next day as he had to talk to “media drongos” about the floods.

**READ MORE:

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* Wayne Brown announces independent review into flood response, but denies any wrong

* Auckland mayor Wayne Brown's own staff: 'We're doing a terrible job'

**

He also renewed his media attacks in a long phone call with The New Zealand Herald this week, doubling down on the “drongos” line.

He also told a reporter: “I don’t need to talk to anybody, I’m in [office].”

Brown, in a press conference on Tuesday, said he was “certainly not going to resign”.

He said he was following instructions when he declared the state of emergency and denied any personal wrongdoing.

However, he announced an independent review into the handling of the immediate flood response.

That would include the communications from himself and his office, which he conceded were “not good enough”.

“We want recommendations for improvement and we will act on them,” Brown said.

Brown has declined multiple requests for interviews with Stuff since the flooding began.

However, when a reporter ran into him on the weekend while in flood-hit Māngere, one of his staffers told the reporter: “We’re doing a terrible job.”

His office later said that comment was taken out of context.

Do you think Brown is doing a good job as Auckland’s mayor? Have your say in our poll.