John Banks considering third go at being Mayor
The 72-year-old former Auckland City Mayor has hired a team of political strategists. John Banks believes the super city needs decisive leadership, comparing current Mayor Phil Goff to a decaying vegetable.
"This leadership is like grandma's boiled cabbage - every single day it gets worse. We need to have a change at the top - someone needs to stand up, and if they don't, I need to step up." Nominations open this Friday. Banks served as Mayor of Auckland, before the amalgamation into the super city, from 2001 to 2004 and again from 2007 to 2010.
He says the ideal candidate needs strong policies. "In the absence of someone that's prepared to stand up and deliver to the city accountability and financial responsibility, then I am considering it... We need to turn this city back to a place where the ratepayers and citizens have a say, not run by an arrogant council with a very colourless Mayor.
Banks has also served as a National Party MP, six years as Police Minister, and briefly led the ACT Party. If he runs, Banks will arguably be the strongest candidate from the right - the two frontrunners, Goff and John Tamihere, both former Labour Party MPs.
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Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
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