7/28/2019 Editorial: Rainbow Mo in Browntown

1/114 / / June 2013

The news that Pakurangas Rainbow

Maurice is considering a run at the mayoralty

in October must have been greeted with

dismay among his colleagues in government.

Its true, the idea o Maurice ouncing

around in those lovely mayoral robes did

briey stir a ew hearts. And he spoke so well

in the Marriage Amendment Bill debate, he

has deservedly enjoyed his moment in the

sun. But reality, as it does even in politics,

now casts its cooling grey shadow over the

un. Ellen DeGeneres doesnt want him,the government surely doesnt either, and

nor should we.

The election will be critical. Centre-letmayor Len Brown needs a mandate or his

vision o Auckland becoming the most

liveable city in the world and, i he gets it,

he will be in a powerul position to push or

more government support across a spectrum

o policies especially public transport

unding options, aordable housing and

ast-tracked planning reorm.

The government doesnt want him to gain

that mandate, but its centre-right supporters

have been hamstrung by their ailure to

produce a candidate who could beat him in

the race or mayor. Their strategy, thereore,

which several National Party people haveconfrmed to me, was going to be to ignore

the mayoral race and go hard to win a

majority on the council. Brown, they believe,

can hardly claim a proper mandate i he

doesnt beat a credible opponent.The arrival o Maurice Williamson

destroys that strategy. I Williamson runs

and loses, Brown will have his mandate,

whatever the result o the election or the

rest o council. Williamson is a minister o

the Crown you cant get a more credible

opponent than that.

And theres a good chance he would lose.

Browns compact city plans might make

him the devils own spawn in the eyes o

some citizens in the leafer suburbs, but he

does not draw strongly on them or support

anyway (more on that whole conict on page38). In the parts o the city that gave him his

massive 66,000 majority in 200, he is still

treated with rather more messianic ervour.

But what i Williamson runs and wins? It

would be an ignominious end or Brown,

or sure, but not necessarily the start o

something wonderul or the government.

Remember, Maurice is not a party liner.

Ten years ago he was so outspoken in

his criticisms o then party leader Bill

English, he was dumped to the very

bottom o Nationals pecking order in

Parliament. Throughout his career he has

given the impression o being bored, and oalleviating the boredom not by attempting

great things but by ying kites that get his

party into trouble. When he said in 2008

that tolls on city roads would be fne, it was

not the proposition that rankled so much

as the way he nonchalantly implied that,

because all the people he knew would be

happy to pay, there were no other points

o view that mattered.

Williamson is not a big-party kind o guy.

He has the temperament o a third-party

heckler. Let loose in Auckland, with no

cabinet and no caucus to answer to, whoknows what he might do.

Would that be a good thing? Might

Maurice be our Boris? Sadly, there is little

sign o that. London mayor Boris Johnson

prods his own party leader David Cameron

in the tender parts whenever he likes, but

he does so as an imaginative, independent,

supremely witty politician who is, above all,

desperately dedicated to his city. There is

nothing in Maurice Williamsons career to

suggest he is any o that.

Which is the real reason he should not be

mayor, regardless o how his own party might

regard the prospect. Williamson has had along and almost entirely undistinguished

career in politics. An MP or 26 years, a

minister or 14 o them, he cannot lay claim

to one genuinely signifcant initiative which

rainbow mo in browntownWhy Maurice Williamson will not be mayor of Auckland.

simon wilson editorial

jane

ussher

has improved the lives o New Zealanders.He is currently the minister o does anyone

even know?

Actually, its customs, statistics, and rather

more pertinently or this town, building and

construction. Building and construction!

A portolio in which you might think an

aspiring mayor o Auckland would have

had a lot to say. But rom Maurice there has

been hardly a peep.

Lets put it this way: i Maurice Williamson,

as minister o building and construction, had

recognised the scale o the crisis Auckland

now aces because so ew homes have beenbuilt in the last fve years, and i he had

spearheaded a programme to reorm the

outlandish costs and excessive bureaucracy

that bedevil construction in this country,

we would happily campaign or him to be

elected mayor or lie. But he hasnt done

that. Hes kept his head down. And hes had

the job since late 2008.

Its probably time or Maurice to leave

Parliament. But retiring to the Town Hall

on Queen St is not the way to do it.

He has the temperament of athird-party heckler. Let loosein Auckland, with no cabinetand no caucus to answer to,

who knows what he might do?

Metro and its contributors have been among

the awards again. In the Canon Media

Awards last month,Metro contributing writer

Duncan Greive (above let) won the prize or

best magazine sports eature or his story

on basketballer Dillon Boucher (The Worst

Player in the Best Team), and Anna Crichton

(centre) won the prize or best illustration or aportolio o her work published in Metro

and the NewZealandHerald.

Metro was also a fnalist or seven other

Canon awards, including newsstand

magazine o the year, best magazine eature

writer (Duncan Greive), best sports eature

(both editor-at-large Donna Chisholm and

editor Simon Wilson), best arts eature (sta

writer Steve Braunias), best politics eature

(Simon Wilson), and best editorial writer

(Simon Wilson).

In the Travel Media Awards, also last

month, Steve Braunias (above right) won the

Interislander Award or best story about a

journey, or his story The Great South Roadtrip.Braunias was a runner-up in the same category

or his story The Train and again in the best

magazine travel story category or his piece

With the Springboks.

metro awards