Wayne Brown takes a swing at retiree golfers in Grey Power debate

Friday, 19 September 2025

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said there was no point paying money to push water from one catchment to another - even if it means golfers lose their course to a wetland.

Intensification, climate change and a golfer’s right to play were among issues fiercely debated at a packed out mayoral candidates event hosted by North Shore’s Grey Power. Jonathan Killick was there.

As mayoral hopefuls addressed a room of 250 retirees, Auckland Council’s controversial proposal to redevelop of a local golf course into a wetland quickly took centre stage.

A member of the crowd asked Brown: “After the whole course is bulldozed and every tree, every blade of grass and living creature dies … what are the benefits for businesses and homes?”

The proposal to turn the Takapuna Golf Course into a basin that could hold 550 million litres of water was a response to devastating floods in the Wairau catchment, but neighbours of the course have fiercely opposed it.

Brown retorted: “I don't know if you've noticed it, but trees actually grow. You can plant them again and grass grows as well.”

“Building a pond to store water to save lives is a terrific idea and cheap, and in terms of wildlife, they bring wildlife.”

And Brown said an alternative proposal that would see a pressure pipe put underneath the motorway was “nuts”.

“And we were forced to spend $75,000 on an engineering consultancy to prove it was nuts … NZTA would not even think about it.”

He told the crowd he was pleased that Golf Warehouse, a private company, was now offering to pay $20 million to redevelop a smaller 9-hole course next to the council’s new pond.

Kerrin Leoni has been on the campaign trail, showing up at 14 debates.

“It might be a disbenefit to your particular house, but for the community over here it’s fantastic. For those few golfers who played 18 holes - go around twice!”

But, rival candidate Kerrin Leoni challenged the incumbent on his record in addressing floods in the supercity.

“We need to be visible when there’s floods, we need to be visible when we have rates hikes in the city, which we know may not have been controllable, but it’s still our responsibility,” she said.

The North Shore Ward was among the worst affected by flooding in 2023, and it’s been recently reported that as the Anniversary Weekend deluge hit, Auckland Council chief executive Phil Wilson found mayor Brown at “Friday drinks”.

At the time, Brown also complained about having to cancel his weekend's tennis plans “to deal with media drongos over the flooding”

Leoni said over the recent election period she had turned up to 14 debates, while Brown had attended only four or so.

Intensification, climate change and a golfer’s right to play were among issues fiercely debated at a packed out mayoral candidates event hosted by North Shore’s Grey Power attended by Wayne Brown and Kerrin Leoni.

She previously said to The Post: “there’s a huge question as to why he’s only going with Grey Power - is it because he’s a 79-year-old man?”

At the event, members of the crowd asked Brown if he might be joining their ranks. He responded: “I’m only joining the Grey Power surfing team.”

Intensification and seismic announcements

The threat of a Government-mandated two million additional dwelling capacity, and what suburbs will receive it, has been a hot topic at election events across the city, and Friday’s debate was no exception.

Brown said he agreed with the Government that apartments needed to be built near train stations, but said the number of dwellings was “where the thing went out the door”.

“To get there we’ve had to shove [zoning] in all sorts of places where no developer in their right mind is going to build a 15-storey building.

“If you’re in one of those ones, don’t worry … I've built some apartments, it's pretty scary to do, a big financial risk. You are not going to build them where you're not going to sell them.”

Brown further claimed that the Government would next week announce that seismic regulations would no longer apply to Auckland, allowing for offices in the city centre to be more easily converted to apartments.

Councillors will vote on a proposal for intensification in the central suburbs next week.

“We haven’t had an earthquake in Auckland for 120,000 years. That was when man was walking out of Africa,” he said.

He said a volcanic eruption was more likely, but “hopefully we’ll be gone before the thing comes”.

Leoni, meanwhile, told attendees she was “not steering toward refusing” a plan change that would see intensification in the central suburbs, but paradoxically added she was seeking options for “staged intensification”.

Auckland’s councillors will have to have a firm position on the issue by Wednesday next week, when it will come to a vote.

Other polices Leoni presented included keeping rates at below 3.5% and redistributing maintenance contracts to local firms, while Brown said he wanted “brained up” traffic lights to improve flows and would see the Government “cave in” on a bed-night hotel levy.

The Post asked attendees outside the event who they thought had won the debate. One said they were impressed with Brown’s “positivity and good ideas”.

“He's got a very articulate mind, and being an engineer he does understand things.”

Another said: “Leoni talked about nice things, but it was just very general to me. I haven’t made up my mind.”

“Brown’s got to finish the job,” said one. A fellow septuagenarian added: “But, I hope it doesn’t kill him off. It must be so stressful.”

As of Friday, 36,650 people or 3.1% of the eligible voting population in Auckland has cast their vote. Ballot papers for the local government elections went out to Auckland letterboxes on September 9. Voting closes on October 11 - ballots should be posted by October 7 or dropped off at one of 200 boxes across the city.