Hubbard flags his return to fight right

Former Auckland City mayor Dick Hubbard may make a political comeback to prevent a right-wing takeover of the new Auckland super city.

The breakfast cereal multi- millionaire - who ripped John Banks' mayoral chains off him in 2004, then was himself booted out by Banks in 2007 - last week told the Sunday Star- Times he had finished licking his wounds after a "hard" rejection, and was ready to get stuck in.

This time though, it would be as a prospective councillor, not mayor - at least for this election. The Auckland super city, which will merge the existing eight territorial and regional councils, comes into being in October 2010, and will elect a mayor with sweeping powers.

Hubbard told the Star-Times he would run as a councillor in October if it looked as if Banks' supporters Citizens and Ratepayers (C&R) were going to take control of the new council, or if their opponents weren't very good.

For the top job, Hubbard has publicly backed Manukau City mayor Len Brown, donating "about $5000" to his campaign.

But he says that is not to get revenge on Banks. Rather, "I genuinely believe [Brown] has a sense of community and the ability to unify Auckland, which is going to be needed for the first three years."

He says C&R is like the Act Party, with its enthusiasm for user-pays, privatisation and prioritising physical infrastructure. Hubbard believes libraries and swimming pools should be free, at least in poorer areas, and the council should advise the government on social housing.

And he says the super city should try to create a sense of community - which he feels at civic and social functions at Manukau and Waitakere, but not in Auckland City.

"Manukau would have been a basket case if it had taken the same approach as C&R."

Hubbard has kept his head down for the past two years to make sure he didn't end up chipping away on the sidelines, feeling "bitter or unloved".

"I deliberately went to ground. It's hard. Harder than you think. You genuinely try to do your best. You do take [the defeat] as a rejection . . . I wanted to be in a position where any comments I made about Auckland City would be for the right reasons."

Hubbard has kept his hand in local politics by making submissions to the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, and he was one of the four Auckland mayors who first mooted the idea of a single council in 2006.

From the sidelines, he reckons the current Banks-led council is "back to the old days of name-calling and insults", with the left fighting the right. The worst thing for the super city would be another left-right stalemate, he says. If he runs, it would be as an independent. But he aligns himself with those on the left - Brown, Waitakere mayor Bob Harvey, and former North Shore mayor George Wood.

Politically, the super city scene has been quiet - only Banks and Brown have launched election campaigns - because no one knows how Auckland will be carved up. That will change when the Local Government Commission gives its draft proposals for ward and board boundaries on Friday.

HUBBARD ON...

* John Banks: "If John Banks comes in, a lot of people would see that as a takeover."

* Former Auckland City deputy mayor Bruce Hucker, who made Hubbard look like a lame duck by announcing policies without telling him first: "Bruce is political history. He's gone. I don't think he would have any public or political credibility."

* North Shore mayor Andrew Williams: "I'm not sure that the current mayor of North Shore could even spell community."

* Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee: "I'm also relieved that Mike Lee is making noises that he won't stand. I think that would be very unfortunate - one, from the point of view of vote-splitting, and secondly, if the super city is to make a new start then I think it would be wrong for the ex-chair of the ARC to impose the old modus operandi."