Ahead of the independent review into Auckland Council's slow response to the January 27 floods, the council expresses confidence that confusion between two different Wayne Browns didn't contribute to delays. Jonathan Milne reports.
Wayne Brown's leadership role in Auckland Emergency Management is important. Yet Auckland Council says he did not play an active role in the early stages of the Auckland floods response. Nor was he required to contribute to former police commissioner Mike Bush's independent review of that response.
Why? Because Wayne Brown is not the mayor – this Wayne Brown is principal recovery advisor for Auckland Emergency Management, an arm of the council whose offices are no fewer than 26 floors below the spacious Mayoral suites, and across the other side of the road in Bledisloe House.
If this seems perplexing, spare a thought for those members of the public who try to email Wayne Brown at Auckland Council. "In the interests of maintaining privacy and taking care with your information," his auto-reply says, "I will not forward emails to the Mayor (or his office) and will delete any messages that are not intended for me."
This happens up to three or four times a week, typically.
READ MORE: * Missing the messenger? Communication and the Auckland floods * Wayne Brown: The evolution of an apology
"Yes – not the Mayor," replies the original Wayne Brown, in an email to Newsroom. "It was identified early on that this could be a problem and a solution put in place. I get very few emails intended for the Mayor."
This week, Mike Bush is due to deliver the report of his independent review into the first 48 hours of the flood response. This was prompted by acknowledged delays and communications breakdowns, but at least, Wayne Brown isn't at fault. Not Wayne Brown the principal recovery advisor, at least.
"Wayne Brown, in his role of principal advisor recovery, did not play an active role in the early stages of the response and therefore was not required to contribute to the Bush review," says council spokesperson Jo Davidson.
"They are usually emails from members of the public emailing about a complaint or sharing their point of view, for example on road cones, or invitations for community events. Each correspondent received the auto-reply." – Jo Davidson, Auckland Council
But she confirms internal steps have been taken to avoid confusion between the two Wayne Browns. From October 10 last year – the first Monday after the election result – the council's original Wayne Brown (let's call him Wayne 1) has set a permanent auto reply on his email account, providing the correct email address for the Mayor's office (Wayne 2).
And not a moment too soon: that same day, the left-wing blogger No Right Turn published Wayne 1's email address and invited Aucklanders to sent their Christmas wish list to "W***er Wayne".
Davidson says internally, there is no room for confusion. The listing for both Wayne Browns in the council’s internal people directory is very clear on which is which, showing their job title and contact details.
"We don’t believe any emails intended for the Mayor [Wayne 2] were mistakenly directed to the other Wayne [1] Brown on the night of the floods," she says. "Wayne [1] Brown’s colleagues in Auckland Emergency Management are very aware that he is not the Mayor [Wayne 2] and would not use his email address when intending to email the Mayor.
"Similarly, councillors, their support teams and senior staff from across the council are aware of the Mayor’s email address."
"Given that we don’t believe any emails intended for the Mayor were directed to Wayne [1] Brown in Auckland Emergency Management, we don’t believe there was any delay in communication to Mayor Wayne [2] Brown caused by misdirected emails."
The misdirected emails that Wayne 1 does receive are usually emails from members of the public, she says, emailing about a complaint or sharing their point of view, for instance, on road cones, or invitations for community events.
For the record, Mayor Wayne Brown's email address can be found on the council’s website. It is mayor.wayne.brown@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz.
