Wayne Brown. Photo: MARIKA KHABAZI / RNZ
The mayor is urging as many Aucklanders as possible to vote ahead of next weekend's local election to "send Wellington a message".
The incumbent, Wayne Brown, made the late plea to the city's residents on Thursday, determined to exceed the 2022 election turnout.
In the 2022 elections, 405,149 people - just 35.5 percent of those enrolled - voted.
Brown said a vote for his campaign "gives a mandate to negotiate with Wellington for funding and a city deal".
"This is our chance to send Wellington the message loud and clear: Auckland is not your ATM," Brown said.
"They need to know we're serious about fixing our city, stopping the waste and getting things done. A high turnout gives us the power to make that stand.
"Don't just complain about the state of the city - get your ballot in the box and vote to fix it."
That message was backed by Ōrākei Councillor Desley Simpson.
"Voting is a lot simpler than relying on the post office. Convenient boxes are located in city libraries, Woolworths supermarkets and other community hubs across the city.
"A strong Auckland needs a representative council, and that only happens when people vote. We need a positive focus, and that starts with every Aucklander making their voice heard."
Brown's main rival in the mayoral election race, Kerrin Leoni, though disagreed with the incumbent mayor's campaign focus on central government.
"In terms of increasing the voter turnout, that should definitely be about getting the voice of Aucklanders as opposed to your mandate to central government.
"I think that there should be a better agreement between Auckland and Wellington and I've obviously talked about GST. There should be some form of resources that is given specifically to Wellington knowing that we are the biggest city.
"But I wouldn't agree that we are an ATM. I don't know where he's got that phrase from. When you look at Wellington and what they're providing for other cities, there's a shortage right across the country.
"So I think that that's a comment that can be seen, possibly because we don't have a state law like other countries like Australia who have got states in between where, regardless of who's in central government, that money is locked in for that region, for infrastructure and regardless of whether it's left or right that's in government, that money is there.
"I think we've only gone up to 11 percent or 12 percent now of voter turnout right across the whole city of 1.2 million potential voters. And for me, that is a true reflection of the fact people are just not confident with what they've been offered in terms of the way that the messaging has gone out.
"If we only reach 20 percent for this election, I believe that that is a huge reflection of Aucklanders not even knowing that there's an election on. And that's the danger here… that people will be elected without Aucklanders understanding who else is standing and who else they can choose from."
Kerrin Leoni. Photo: RNZ / Jessica Hopkins
As of Thursday 2 October, voter turnout was at 14.7 percent according to the Auckland Council website.
Leoni said a big part of that was because Brown had not engaged in mayoral debates with her in the media.
"Now that's just unheard of, and that's actually blocking democracy for Aucklanders because they should be listening to us debating together. We should both be posed questions and given the ability to respond to them so that Aucklanders can see the difference on how we respond and what the difference on our policies are.
"I think the low voter turnout is due to the fact that we have not had the huge amount of media that you would normally get as a result of these debates.
"The focus should be giving Aucklanders, you know, more of an idea of who is standing, how they're standing, what they're standing on in this last week. Of course, it is about getting the vote turnout. It shouldn't be about our mandate to Wellington at all."
Voting in the 2025 local elections is open until 12 noon, Saturday 11 October.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
