Auckland’s deputy mayor Desley Simpson says she will support Mayor Wayne Brown at the upcoming election.

Simpson and Brown are holding a joint press conference at the Auckland Town Hall which is being live streamed at the top of this file.

It comes amid mounting speculation about whether Simpson would run against Brown for Mayor of Auckland.

Simpson told media she was here to support the mayor.

She praised his vision during his mayoral term to bring down the council’s budget deficit.

“You’ve got to look at what’s good for Auckland,” Simpson said about her decision to support Brown for his re-election.

She said while sometimes Brown used some colourful language, his substance and vision was good for Auckland.

She said he had no filter from his brain to his mouth and that sometimes his words had to be shaken so the “dirt” falls away and the “gold” and “gems” are left behind.

Brown had been very productive during his term, she said.

The cost of council construction projects had often been “eye-wateringly high” in the past, but Brown’s vision had included introducing a 10-point policy against which to manage projects.

That had demonstrably reduced costs for projects going ahead, and if it had been in place for previous projects it would have avoided many of the cost overruns of the past, Simpson said.

When asked what had changed since earlier this year when she had contemplated running for mayor this October, Simpson revealed Brown had been thinking he wouldn’t stand for a second term.

Wayne Brown confirms next mayoral term will be his last if re-elected

Brown confirmed that if re-elected, it would be his last term as mayor and that he would serve the whole term.

He also told media he and Simpson had never had a row or an “unpleasant conversation”.

Brown said he and Simpson had complementary approaches to Auckland Council governance.

Simpson said they had disagreements but didn’t fight.

When given the example of how Brown in his first Budget tried to remove much of the council’s art funding, Simpson said she and the city were able to convince him of the merits of the arts.

She said it was an example of how they could work together.

Simpson, however, didn’t rule out running for mayor in the future.

She said “you cannot doubt” that the policies and vision for the future Brown had put in place were significant.

The mayor had got to the crux or heart of things that really annoyed city residents and tried to address them, such as transport issues and the amount council was spending on projects, Simpson said.

She hoped more women stood for council in the upcoming election.

When asked if they had a row about Lamborghinis, Simpson said “yes” and then “no comment” with a laugh, while trying to push Brown into their next meeting.

Months of speculation

Simpson has allowed speculation to build in recent months that she might challenge Brown, who announced in February he would seek re-election in October.

Her potential interest in leading the city first came to public attention in January, when the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance revealed the domain desleyformayor.co.nz had been registered by her son last year.

Simpson told the Herald her son registered the domain at Christmas “as a bit of a laugh”.

“It doesn’t mean I’m doing it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not doing it either.”

Simpson told media in the past fortnight that she would make an announcement about her mayoral ambitions by early June.

Simpson is a three-term councillor representing the Ōrākei ward, an area that includes Remuera, Meadowbank, Glendowie and the beach suburbs of St Heliers, Kohimarama and Mission Bay.

She has been actively involved in politics there since 2007, when she served a term as chair of the Hobson Community Board in the Auckland City Council.

Brown appointed her as his deputy following the 2022 election, although she had not supported him or his main opponent, the late Fa’ananu Efeso Collins, during the campaign.

Simpson gained citywide prominence in the immediate aftermath of the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods of January 2023. While the mayor testily defended himself as “not responsible for the rain”, she became what one media outlet called “Mayor by Default”.

Simpson, a long-standing member of Communities & Residents (formerly Citizens & Ratepayers), resigned her membership in late 2023.

Auckland's Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson, Mayor Wayne Brown and a Lamborghini. Photo / NZ Herald 

Brown and Simpson have not always had a smooth working relationship. In March, he suggested that “all she thinks about is how to help people buy their next Lamborghini”, a comment for which he later apologised. He said the comment was “taken out of context”. 

At a recent council meeting, he called surf lifesaving clubs “glorified babysitters”, and she responded, “Don’t say that!” 

Desley Simpson and Wayne Brown at their inauguration. Photo / Jay Farnworth 

The election will be run as a postal ballot. Candidate nominations will open on July 4 and close on August 1. Voting will open on September 9 and close on October 11, when the results will be announced. 

Simon Wilson is a senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues, with a focus on Auckland. He joined the Herald in 2018.