By 1news.co.nz
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown said he’s “certainly not going to resign” over his response to the flooding in Auckland.
Messages from a WhatsApp group Brown joined for organising tennis games were obtained by the New Zealand Herald and show Brown telling fellow group members he had to cancel a game on Sunday as he had to “deal with media drongos”.
“Anyhow I’ve got to deal with media drongos over the flooding tomorrow so sadly no tennis for me tomorrow.” He also signed off his message as “Browny”.
The mayor has been under fire for days due to his handling of the flood response.
“Bugger. I’ll look out the window first thing,” he wrote on Thursday night.
It comes after community advocate Dave Letele called for Brown to step down this morning.
Speaking with Breakfast, Letele said Brown was “out of his depth” and called his response an “absolute disgrace”.
Calls for Wayne Brown to resign as Auckland mayor over flood response
“I accept that our communications – including mine and my office – were not good enough, especially on Friday night,” Brown said at a press conference this afternoon, adding that he, his office and the relevant agencies would all be covered by the inquiry.
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“We want recommendations for improvement, and we will act on them.”
But answering questions from reporters, Brown pushed back on the call for his resignation.
“I was elected to fix Auckland, and this is a giant fix-up… I have definitely been out and amongst the community,” he said.
“I’ve been responding to where the people have wanted me to be. This is not about me, this is about the people who are in trouble.”
Later, when pressed on what the exact “hiccups” were in the response, Brown said: “I don’t think I personally did anything wrong”.
“I actually followed the instructions closely… One of the things we’re going to review is whether or not all those instructions were as clear as they might have been as well,” he added, saying “it needs to be kept in mind this is unprecedented in scale”.
More heavy rain on the way
Brown said that his team’s current focus and “big worry is that some Aucklanders might think the worst is behind us, but it isn’t”.
He said that, owing to the ground’s saturation, the comparatively lighter rain to come “could be more dangerous than even Friday”.
“That’s why I’ve asked emergency authorities to consider advising schools and businesses about staying closed tomorrow.
“That’s why I’ve asked Minister Henare, the Minister of Defence, to prepare to bring in the army to help with things like sandbagging if we need it and other tasks, just in case, to make sure we’re prepared.”
Brown also asked Aucklanders to stay home, avoid floodwaters and follow the advice of authorities including Civil Defence.
“So far, I have had no reports of the authorities needing to use the emergency declaration powers I declared on Friday.
“Which says to me that Aucklanders are cooperating voluntarily. Thank you Auckland and let’s keep it that way.”
In the conference, Brown thanked the media for conveying information on the floods, and said he agreed with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins that “this is climate change”. He also thanked officials and authorities for their support and work.
