Questions for 2022: Who do you want as Auckland mayor and will you ditch your car?

Saturday, 11 December 2021

Auckland's Upper Nihotupu Dam reservoir in the Waitakere Ranges at the depth of the drought. (Video April 2020)

OPINION: In preparing for a long-awaited barbecue season it’s time to ponder an Auckland list of topics for discussion, once the usual banter about burnt sausages has been exhausted.

In that time of reflection for those who can break out of the daily grind with friends and family, there’ll be plenty to talk about. Let’s skip the obvious topic and look at some others.

Climate change. Is 2022 really the year when Aucklanders, led by their council, will get stuck into action?

On the face of it, the proposed $57 a year for an average value home going as a targeted rate seems like real action. Electric buses and ferries will be ordered, new services added, and trees planted.

* Māori economy: Report seeks Govt support to boost Auckland Māori businesses

Mayor Phill Goff and 2019 challenger John Tamihere debate at Chapel Bar.

* Climate change: Who will lead Auckland emissions reduction if there is no leader?

The barbecue question: Will it change how you lead your life? Will you hunt out that bus instead of driving, or walk and cycle more? Or is this a political tick list?

If that list of climate action items won’t change your life in an emissions-reducing way, what will?

Will our early December hot-spell turn into a new drought, even if $224 million of hurried spending has shored up our water supply? Will you still save water like it’s 2021?

2022 is local body election year. Compelling stuff for the 35 per cent who voted in Auckland in 2019.

Unsuccessful 2019 mayoral candidate John Tamihere pictured under a Goff campaign billboard.

Barbecue question: With Phil Goff expected not to run again - but who knows - what do you want in a mayor?

Do you want a policy wonk with a rate rise pledge and ambitions to make the council machinery whirr better? Or a figure that represents something intangible about Auckland’s future?

The signalling of interest by Manukau ward councillor Efeso Collins could be a chat starter on what is it that attracts us to a mayoral candidate.

2022 Question: Can The Breakers find their 2013 form, here at Spark Arena en route to a third straight ANBL title.

There are still some vacancies in the early mayoral line-up of Jake Law, Craig Lord and Leo Molloy. The left has yet to settle on a name, in the event that Goff does move on, and the right has yet to match.

After two tough years, will an analytical comparison of candidates work for you, or will it be emotion?

Travel. In late 2020 we thought the upcoming summer would be a once in a lifetime chance to holiday around New Zealand free of foreign tourists. Now it’s twice in a lifetime. Will you?

Or has lockdown sharpened your interest in attractions and locations closer to home than you might have roamed pre-Covid-19?

The return to normal. Will we get there in 2022? What is normal in a time of Covid-19 and are we ready to adapt to fewer but ongoing restrictions, and behaviour that we hoped was over?

The start of a new year is a time for optimism, a blank canvas awaiting your brush strokes. What will you paint while keeping one eye on the Covid-19 traffic light signals?

When all else fails around the barbecue, there is always sport. Will this again be the Blues’ rugby year, can the Warriors regain rugby league’s NRL Grand Final form of 2011?

Can basketball’s Australia-exiled Breakers clamber over a pile of hurdles and hit the high-notes that in 2013 brought them a third consecutive ANBL title in Perth?

2021 taught us we need to keep an open mind about what lies ahead, but there’s plenty to mull over in Auckland as the annual calendar changeover looms again.