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Austerity may begin at home, but several Auckland councillors weren’t ready for it suddenly striking out their meeting day lunch.
Some on the Planning, Environment and Parks committee found they had to explore eateries near the Town Hall on Thursday, after missing the email that the usual free lunch was off as a cost-cutting measure.
Andy Baker headed straight across the road to a low-cost Asian food court, while Howick ward’s Maurice Williamson and Sharon Stewart passed through it, after first seeking a cafe.
Williamson – the mayor’s cost-cutting right-hand person – applauded the frugal sentiment on his return from the lunchbreak, but wasn’t happy with the area’s culinary offering.
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“The problem with this building is it’s just so awful. You cross the road to a food court thinking ‘wow’ and it’s just nothing but Chinese food. There is nothing like a roll or a pie or a sandwich you can get,” Williamson told committee chair Richard Hills.
Hills had scrapped the traditional lunch in the councillors’ lounge on the ground floor, in a chairman’s call shared the previous evening by email with councillors.
The move was in line with an earlier governing body decision – promoted by Albany’s Wayne Walker, and seconded by Williamson – to try to curb “discretionary spending”.
However, Walker missed the lunch message and, when the uncatered lunchbreak was called, said the nearest offerings “weren’t healthy”.
Not so much as a pie was on offer in the new “no lunch” regime at an Auckland Council committee meeting. (File photo)
Stewart found the same sandwich and pie outlet frequented by Stuff, diagonally opposite from the Town Hall in a busy corner of takeaway shops, and also bought for her colleague Mike Lee.
Williamson, a 30-year parliamentary politician up to 2017, shared as is his custom, reflections on how things worked at Parliament.
“Parliament used to have a tab and you didn’t even pay. You just walked up, grabbed something and put it on your tab and then once a month, you got the bill and you paid it,” said Williamson.
“I’ll happily pay. I’ll pay for others. But at least if we could have it [made available] here,” he told Hills.
Lunch had probably been in councillors minds more than usual, with the meeting starting at 10am, and going more than an hour past the usual break time, finally get the chance at 1.45pm.
Some councillors came prepared with a packed lunch, in what could become a domino effect across other committees which may follow Hills’ ruling.
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