Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has been put on the defensive in an exclusive interview following the release of a damning independent report that criticised his leadership during the city's January floods.
The floods left four dead and hundreds homeless.
His council's response was roundly criticised in Mike Bush's independent review, released on Wednesday, which found systemic failures across the city's emergency management during the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, with a lack of assertive leadership from Brown.
The media-reluctant leader spoke in an exclusive interview with Q+A's Jack Tame this morning. It is the mayor's first long-form TV interview since taking office six months ago and the first time he's been publicly questioned following the release of Bush's review.
Brown pointed to others after the review found flaws throughout Auckland Emergency Management's preparedness and response on the night of the flooding.
The Auckland mayor was asked to respond to words he wrote in 2007. (Source: Q and A)
"I think the council's response was very poor. I was guilty, most of all, of assuming that they knew what they were doing," he said. "We all could have done better. I apologised for dropping the ball. I didn't realise a ball hadn't been thrown to me".
"We were caught in the headlights. I wasn't instructed. I received no information. You can't see from my office what's going on in Henderson or South Auckland.
"We only learned what was going on in South Auckland from people who were ringing in from premises I owned out there to say they were flooding, and I'm thinking gosh, why haven't I heard that from the organisation? Nobody contacted me directly.
"If they can't ring the mayor to tell you what's going on, you can't be expected to know. I should have known better. Had I known better, I would have done more about it."
The mayor repeated his suggestion that long-standing issues, such as where people's homes were built, were the foremost issues that caused chaos when flooding hit.
The independent review outlines mistakes made by Mayor Wayne Brown and officials as the floods unfolded in January. (Source: 1News)
"A lot of these things have been sitting around for years. I mean, Kris Faafoi published a report about a flood 18 months beforehand, and neither he, nor the Government, nor the council did a single thing about it," he said.
"Why did we have so many people living in floodable areas? Why did we have a Northern Busway that gathered water and flooded buses?
"I'm not going to just have a report and do nothing for seven years. You can be absolutely sure of that."
He also said he "frankly" didn't want to talk to the media. In the past six months as mayor, Brown has been reluctant to speak to reporters.
An independent review has slammed Auckland Council's response to the city's January flooding. (Source: Breakfast)
"A lot of the media are just so abrasive and corrosive. I don't want to talk to them, frankly. And I'm not getting elected this year, you've got other people queuing up".
It came after the mayor said he didn't want to "to deal with media drongos" after the weather event struck.
Tame repeatedly questioned Brown about his commitment to having empathetic leadership — which the mayor was sceptical of.
In his review report, Bush said: "Early messaging lacked empathy to assuage people's fears and show sympathy and support for those who had been impacted by loss of life and property."
Wayne Brown has apologised after slips and flooding destroyed hundreds of homes across the region. (Source: 1News)
Brown responded: "Nobody died because of lack of empathy. They died because of a lack of planning of where they're living and the stormwater management. And you've got to raise a whole lot of things."
When asked whether his defensiveness immediately after the deadly floods was a sign of problematic leadership, Brown said that wasn't what he was elected for.
"I don't think I was elected for that. I was elected to fix Auckland.
"And as far as empathy goes, as soon as I found out the prime minister was coming up on a taxpaid helicopter, I hired one myself so I could go out, have a look at work, and work out what was happening," the mayor said.
He said Tame "gotta get past this" when asked further: "This is a long-term big fix-up. I have empathy for people who are facing high mortgages. I have empathy for the city that should be performing a lot better.
Brown insists he’s personally done nothing wrong. (Source: 1News)
"Perhaps, I didn't go and hug people. I'm not a hugger."
When the mayor was asked whether he needed to bring people with him, he pushed back — suggesting "not necessarily": "Having a clear vision and having good results will bring people with you," Brown said.
When asked about his relationship with council chief executive Jim Stabback, Brown said: "You deal with the people who are there.
"We're not talking about fault. I'm interested in the repairs. You guys are fixated on fault-finding.
"He's been told what to do with regard to that thing (flood review recommendations), and he's got a month to do it. Let's see whether he does it."
Q+A is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
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