Banks bullshits on North Shore – shows up Bhatnager as a hypocrite

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, September 27th, 2009 - 18 comments
Categories: auckland supercity, john banks - Tags: , ,

This week John Banks took his faltering super mayoralty campaign to the Takapuna Rotary Club on Auckland’s North Shore.

Banks tried to butter up the locals by talking about the time he was elected to the Birkenhead Borough Council waaaaaaaaaay back in 1977 (hint: you’re almost at retirement age Mr Banks time to step down). That’s not interesting in itself. What caught my eye was that he was reported as saying that the supercity faces significant social challenges “even on the North Shore” and that addressing poverty-related matters in Northcote central are key supercity matters.

Forgive me if I call bullsh*t on Banks’ crocodile tears. I don’t remember him being so worried about social concerns when he worked to sell off council pensioner housing and pumped up user charges.

Anyway, I look forward to John Banks’ campaign manager Cr Aaron Bhatnager now coming out and slagging off his boss’ new focus on dealing with poverty especially given this post he made about Len Brown noting the super city would (gasp) be in a position to help reduce inequality. 

I also look forward to Gooner retracting this stupid statement critiquing Len for saying the new council will be working with the Government to deliver social outcomes: ‘It is a stark example of what is wrong with most local body politicians and it is a stark example of what the race will be between next year: busy body politicians who try to itch every scratch or politicans (sic) who focus on the big picture while leaving individuals, communities and businesses to resolve local issues themselves.’

How dumb do they look.

For a more balanced look at how the new super council might deal with social policy issues, check out what the royal commission had to say on the matter:
‘Cities have to deal with the challenges of economic adjustment, poverty, and developing social cohesion, and in many cases, with higher criminality… these are all matters that Auckland needs to address if it is to be a leading city.

In London, the new executive mayor was instrumental in establishing the Child Poverty Commission and London’s Living Wage.

Kofi Annan gets it too: ‘At their best, cities are engines of growth and incubators of civilization. They are cross-roads of ideas, places of great intellectual ferment and innovation… [But] cities can also be places of exploitation, disease, violent crime, unemployment, underemployment and extreme poverty we must do more to make our cities safe and liveable places for all.

I look forward to the new Auckland council getting down to the business of dealing with the city’s social cohesion issues.

P.S – We’re hearing a lot more chatter from Auckland’s right-wingers about deep-seated unhappiness with John Banks’ campaign. Many are now openly speculating he can’t do it and are hunting for a new candidate. Chair of the Chamber of Commerce and deputy chair of the ARC Michael Barnett is said to be doing the numbers around C&R. Watch this space.

18 comments on “Banks bullshits on North Shore – shows up Bhatnager as a hypocrite ”

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  1. JohnDee 1
    27 September 2009 at 2:15 pm

    I see the speaker of miss-truths is again spreading his crap, claiming that Len Brown wants Sue Bradford as his deputy. The short little **** man just loves to talk shite.

  2. JohnDee 2
    27 September 2009 at 2:20 pm

    And on another note, i hope the left and the voters of greater Auckland actually rail against John Banks and vote strategically to kick him out on his ass.
    I, sure as helll will never vote for him.

  3. Robert Winter 3
    27 September 2009 at 2:56 pm

    The numbers game is indeed being played at present. Mr Barnett may well have his own agenda, but a replacement for Banks needs to have unquestionable advantages. My money has been on Ms Shipley for some time ….in Auckland, experienced, networked and with a capacity to upset some of the demographics.

    Mr Brown should also stick to message. Like many of us, he admires and respects Sue Bradford. But he can’t expect to win what is going to be akin to a prime ministerial contset without sticking to a message and being aware that what seems sensible to him can be blown up into something quite different. The sooner he recognises that the scale of the campaign is more national than local, the better.

  4. Parnell Boy 4
    27 September 2009 at 8:11 pm

    I see Bhatnagar got his panties in a twist over your post about divisions on the right:

    http://aucklandblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/standard-is-confused-and-wrong.html

    Check this out: “What would The Standard know about what’s happening in C&R meetings? Banksie has never been a member of C&R anyway and therefore why would he need any numbers from C&R to stand as an independent Mayoral candidate?”

    – Everyone knows Bhatnagar has been working his ass off to make sure no other centre right candidates stand against his boss and that C&R stays right in behind. But it sounds like he and Banks now know his iron grip on the rightwing is slipping away. Not all is well in C&R…

  5. labourarelooosers 5
    27 September 2009 at 8:34 pm

    The anarcho communist green leftards have found a natural home on this site huh !!!!!

  6. sal 6
    27 September 2009 at 9:09 pm

    Aaron Bhatnager was an ACT member and activist from the mid -1990s through to the late 1990s at the least.

  7. BLiP 7
    27 September 2009 at 9:14 pm

    Hahahaha – wouldn’t it be wonderful if, for all the efforts of the Right to sell off the City and pave the way for their leaky-home developer mates, Auckland votes for a Left council!!! The possibility seems to be slowly taking shape as a probability.

    Bhat-shit-nager is the buffoon who last week proposed that only inner-city bars should stay open after 11pm. An amazingly anti-business stance coming from the Right. He’s best mates with fellow Auckland City Councillor Paul Goldsmith who last Christmas wanted homeless people in the central city disposed of, and Auckland City Councillor Sam Lotu-Iiga who’s so tired out with his other job as an MP he’s earned the moniker “Sleepy Sam”. They really are a bunch of rich-brat-wide boys playing at politics on behalf of their business world sugar-daddies.

    • felix 7.1
      27 September 2009 at 10:54 pm

      Ah, thought that was the fucker. Drew up the “entertainment precinct” excluding the King’s Arms and the Powerstation.

      What a tool. Probably thinks all the real entertainment happens at the Viaduct.

  8. BLiP 8
    28 September 2009 at 8:22 am

    Anyone want to hear the sound an egg makes while its slowly being boiled?

    • the sprout 8.1
      28 September 2009 at 8:41 am

      funny! what a knob 🙂
      what a shame we don’t see the same spineless flexibility over the Supershity railroading

      • BLiP 8.1.1
        28 September 2009 at 9:02 am

        Yeah – and what a fucking cheek to simply make the announcement without referral to the very same council committee he force fed the original policy to in the first place – is he running the council now?

        Classic, born-to-rule arrogance and disdain for democracy.

  9. Lamb 9
    28 September 2009 at 2:59 pm

    Funny how Aaron seems to have removed all trace of the fact he was Richard Worth’s campaign manager. Wonder if he’ll do the same when this Banksie thing doesn’t work out.