Auckland mayor Wayne Brown has lashed out at the central Government's control over Auckland affairs ahead of a critical meeting over the proposed harbour crossing, which Brown has called "a dumb idea".

Former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and then-Transport Minister Michael Wood unveiled options for a second harbour crossing eight months ago. Two transport bodies have since opposed the preferred option and work has started on cheaper alternatives.

In August, Labour chose to go with two three-lane tunnels for vehicles and a 21km light rail tunnel between the CBD and Albany that would take decades to build and was priced in a newly released council report at an eye-watering $56 billion.

The mayor was on the Mike Hosking Breakfast if the crossing would ever happen.

"Not the way they're doing it," said Brown.

"It tunnels under the harbour - it uses up the entire national income for a year and there's actually not a demand for it at the moment, the bridge is the least jammed up of the motorways.

Hosking asked if anybody thought the proposed crossing was a good idea.

"There's bound to be some, mate," said Brown.

The mayor was also asked how he dealt with a councillor publicly criticising his ideas, such as Alf Filipaina who dismissed the mayor's ideas to sell council shares in Auckland’s port and airport.

He said it was through "a great deal of patience and biting your bottom lip".

Brown said Filipaina was one of several councillors who had made a long career out of saying no to everything, then getting voted back in by telling people they'd said no to protect the people.

"It's pretty annoying but you've got to talk sensible things, stay calm and find 11 or 12 people to support what you're doing," the mayor said.

"And the things I want to do around the table are things the public quite like because it's sensible stuff - I don't think the councillors are very used to having sensible stuff. It's a shock to them."

Brown then railed against central Government's influence on council issues when it came to consultation around how certain decisions that would affect the city.

"Local government has been crushed by various Governments for a long time, I'm hoping this one here will wake up to this fact - it pisses me off," said Brown.

"People's daily lives are more affected by the local council than the Government, but central government has got this sort of 'father thing' that they've got to look after [us] - we're not even allowed to set the parking fines for our city."

Brown had a recent meeting with National's newly appointed Transport Minister, Simeon Brown, to discuss transport issues affecting the city. Hosking asked if Brown was of a mindset that would be more helpful for the council.

"I think he is, but then he goes back to Wellington and he's surrounded by a whole bunch of mandarins there who've years more experience that he has," the mayor said.

"You need to be pretty tough - I'm there to make sure he stays tough. I'm sort of pleased that Winston [Peters] is there because he's one guy who doesn't listen to all the Wellington stuff.

"Wellington is kind of like a hazard to Auckland, rather than a help.