Wayne Brown reveals committee appointments: who's inside the tent, who's out?
Friday, 7 November 2025
In a selection akin to a prime minister choosing their cabinet ministers, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has ousted rivals and given powerful positions to his closest supporters.
The mayor is able to appoint committees and delegate decision making powers on key issues, and this term Brown has given his “Fix Auckland” running mates roles scrutinising the council’s finances.
A value-for-money committee searching for savings will be chaired by his deputy mayor Desley Simpson, backed up by Victoria Short as deputy committee chair.
Last term the committee already found $418 million in savings, and so the pair may have a difficult challenge ahead of them trying to find further fat to trim.
Short, who Brown proudly declared “the Albanian killer” for having ousted rival Wayne Walker from the Albany seat, has also been given the lead councillor role on the audit and risk committee.
Fellow northern councillor Greg Sayers of Rodney, meanwhile, is not affiliated with Brown but has been one of the mayor’s most favoured councillors, with the pair seeing eye to eye on most issues.
Sayers said he’s been humbled by the mayor’s “trust and confidence” in now being appointed chair of the budget and performance committee - a powerful position with the task of setting out the council’s spending priorities.
“What he [Brown] is expecting of me is to help him drive through his budget proposals and make sure that everyone comes along for the journey and kind of buys into it,” Sayers tells The Post.
The challenge in that task may soon become apparent with Friday’s committee selection having left some of the mayor’s most vocal critics out in the cold.
Not only has long-serving Waitematā councillor Mike Lee not been given any lead positions on committees - he’s been left off the list almost entirely, having no positions other than those relating to his local ward.
Lee tells The Post it’s just “politics as usual” from the mayor.
“I was sacked from the board of AT because I wouldn’t support selling the public shares in Auckland International Airport, and spoke out against it.
“This kind of vindictiveness has gone on, and I’ve been as supportive as I possibly can to the mayor. But, the key difference with the people who got committee roles, is they are the ones who were willing to sell out, frankly.”
But, Brown says he’s awarded committee positions to those councillors who have “demonstrated significant leadership and collaboration capabilities last term”.
“I have positioned councillors to make the most of their skills and experience. I’ve thought very carefully about getting the knowledge in the right places.”
Lee said he felt his experience meant he had “a lot to offer” in a major role, but for him it wasn’t “the end of the world” being able to focus on local ward issues.
“Meanwhile, we’re hearing a lot how popular the mayor is, but actually only 29% of the eligible voters felt it worthwhile to vote, and that means there’s major disaffection. About 70% of Aucklanders cast their vote into the recycling bin.”
Waitākere’s Ken Turner hasn’t done as badly out of the appointments, but tells The Post he still feels “sidelined by the mayor”.
That’s because his priority was getting a committee in charge of regional parks, but instead he has merely been appointed “lead councillor” on the issue.
“Basically, he [Brown] sent me a couple of messages saying that I had to rethink my stance on [Western Springs] Speedway … But, I’m not using my community as a pack of cards in a poker game,” claims Turner.
“Then I was told [by Brown]: ‘I’ve never been more powerful. I got rid of one of the Albanians’. He said to me ‘you have got to understand how to conduct yourself in meetings … and understand the rules’.”
Turner said the experience made him feel like he was an apprentice, being told off by the boss.
“Most people when they hear the word fix Auckland, they think of a broken down car or a faulty television, and we’re supposed to make it work again. I haven’t seen us doing what’s needed to fix Auckland … yet again we’ve done restructures.”
Who will be in charge of the new-look Auckland Transport?
Under new legislative reforms, Auckland Transport has been stripped of its independent status and instead will be run by a new committee with council and government appointees.
Brown has signalled he intends to appoint Waitakere’s Shane Henderson, Franklin’s Andy Baker and Howick’s Maurice Williamson to the new Auckland Regional Transport Committee. In the meantime, Henderson and Williamson have been appointed to an interim AT board.
Baker and Henderson will also be in charge of the wider transport and infrastructure delivery committee.
Meanwhile, North Shore councillor Richard Hills has been given one of the most high-profile appointments as chair of the policy, planning and development committee.
It will have oversight over implementation of Auckland’s major intensification proposal - plan change 120.
Hills has come out strongly in favour of intensification in the central suburbs around the City Rail Link, closely aligning with Brown’s view that Auckland needs to stop being “a city of sprawl”.
Albert- Eden-Puketāpapa councillor Julie Fairey has been named chair of a new community focused committee which will for the first time have its own decision making powers.
Fairey said she wanted to oversee a strengthening of libraries, reflecting their role as community hubs not just a place to read books.
Speaking to The Post, Fairey observed that last term Brown had tried to evenly delegate the big roles in council, but this time had picked people “he trusts to run a good process”.
She said she had worked constructively with the mayor when leading a joint working party investigating reorganising local boards.
“Now he didn’t get the outcome from that that he wanted … [but] he could see that I ran a process that was straight up and didn’t play any games behind the scenes to try to get the outcome I wanted.”
The full list of appointments is available here.