Wayne Brown's knack for raining on his own parade

Friday, 16 December 2022

Mayor Wayne Brown speaks after Auckland Airport gaffe at council budget meeting. (Video from December 2022)

Todd Niall is the senior Auckland affairs reporter for Stuff.

OPINION: If there's one thing Auckland mayor Wayne Brown needs to work on, it's his knack of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Brown on Thursday stepped up to face media, ready to talk about getting his first council budget proposal out of the starting blocks, in the most challenging fiscal environment facing the council in its 12 years.

However, he had hours earlier sown the seeds of his own public relations disaster with an astonishingly ill-chosen comment about Auckland Airport Limited, a blue-chip publicly listed company in which Auckland Council is the largest single shareholder with an 18% slice.

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Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown in a tense media stand-up after triggering a stock exchange trading halt.

Brown, during the budget debate, said the airport company was preparing a big capital-raising programme to fund a new domestic terminal, on a scale that could dilute the council's stake to just 10 or 11%.

There are few greater sins in stock exchange rules, than disclosing information not previously made available to the market, and which can affect the price of shares.

For a mayor who sold himself through the election campaign as having great business acumen, it was quite a gaffe, and when immediately picked up on it by councillor Chris Darby, Brown’s momentary silence was telling.

An hour later the stock exchange NZX suspended trading of the airport shares, until the company formally stated it had no such intention.

By the time the mayor stood before assembled media, damage control was well under way, with his staff issuing a statement to media saying he would not answer questions on the matter, pointing to an earlier statement trying to defuse the blunder.

It was, of course, the first question on everyone's lips, with Brown having become the first Auckland mayor to trigger a stock exchange trading halt.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown dealing with media after his airport comments sparked an NZX trading halt.

Brown paused, flustered, and stared blankly, becoming belligerent and stumbling his way through trying to brush it off.

He said he had nothing to apologise for and “was not quite sure” about whether with hindsight it was an unwise statement.

He was understandably frustrated that the first question was not about having steered his first budget proposal through rough fiscal seas, to sail off for public consultation in March.

It was an achievement, having in just nine weeks since election, pulled together a credible if contested plan to deal with a forecast $295 million deficit next year, and get it out the door for consultation with a 20-1 vote.

That would have been the only media interest had he not rather swaggeringly tried to display the depth of his commercial nous in public.

It wasn't the first own goal. A week earlier Brown attended the completion of the expanded council-owned film studio in west Auckland.

When approached by a television news crew to discuss the upcoming budget, Brown opted to push his open hand in the direction of the camera, creating his own new media moment.

All of this in the presence of a cabinet minister and council executives, who were left embarrassed when Brown decided to depart early.

The mayor has a big job ahead and his own personality could become his biggest risk in trying to build consensus for challenging reforms in a worsening economic climate.

Allowing a media staffer to answer questions on his behalf in front of journalists is a recipe for more self-inflicted distraction, just when he doesn't need it.

Next year’s budget is perhaps the biggest political test Brown will face this term.

He has yet to win over many councillors who are still trying to figure out how much he understands or cares about potential damage to vulnerable communities.

Gaining trust around the council table will involve Brown convincing his co-governors that he is focussed on the needs of their communities, more than conducting distracting personal sideshows.

Later on Thursday evening Brown put out a self-congratulatory media release declaring himself “comfortable” with progress in his first two months. His list of achievements made no mention of the penchant for own goals.

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