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Speaker 1: Had a huge political victory for Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown,

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Speaker 1: massive victory for him having campaigned on taking greater control

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Speaker 1: over Auckland's CEOs, the council control organizations. The Mayor is

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Speaker 1: set to get his wish when it comes to Auckland transport.

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Speaker 1: Transport Minister Simeon Brown confirming this afternoon that Auckland's transport

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Speaker 1: policy and planning is going to shift from AT back

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Speaker 1: over to Auckland Council. Now remember, under the model that

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Speaker 1: we currently have, Auckland Council has two elected councilors on

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Speaker 1: the Board of AT. But Wayne Brown has argued that

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Speaker 1: that model assigned far too much of the major decision

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Speaker 1: making around transport policy in Auckland to unelected officials. He

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Speaker 1: was always lamenting that people come up to him in

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Speaker 1: the street and moaned to him about problems that were

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Speaker 1: actually AT's responsibility, not realizing that the council itself had

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Speaker 1: limited control overall contransport. Now, like all power, of course,

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Speaker 1: you have to be what you wish for. If Auckland

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Speaker 1: Council and local boards are to have more authority over

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Speaker 1: transport planning in our biggest city, they will also have

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Speaker 1: more of the blame if residents don't feel they're making

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Speaker 1: the right cause. But under the changes, Auckland Council is

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Speaker 1: going to retain a transport CEO. It's just those big

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Speaker 1: planning policies that shift over to the council. And you've

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Speaker 1: got to say, you know, Wayne Brown's critics would have

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Speaker 1: to accept he has surprised a lot of people as mayor.

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Speaker 1: He's built relationships on both sides of the political spectrum.

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Speaker 1: He has advocated effectively for Auckland's rate pays. He promised

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Speaker 1: to get greater control over the council control organizations and

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Speaker 1: all contransport was top of the list. And whether you

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Speaker 1: like the council's subsequent transport policies, whether you like the

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Speaker 1: plans that Auckland Council comes up with regarding transport and

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Speaker 1: our biggest city. On that promise to rest back controls

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Speaker 1: of the CEOs, Wayne Brown has delivered. For more from

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Speaker 1: Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to news Talks at

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Speaker 1: b from four p m weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.