Five contenders for the super city office have lambasted media and debate organisers, saying celebrity has been put ahead of policy.

A group of five candidates for the Auckland mayoralty have banded together to demand greater attention for their campaigns. They are calling on media and debate organisers to “provide balanced coverage” of the contenders for the office. Local election nominations closed on Friday at noon, with 23 people in the running for Auckland mayor.

In a statement calling for a “fair go”, the five candidates – Gary Brown, Ted Johnston, Michael Kampkes, John Lehmann, Michael Morris – express concern their “voices are being silenced by a media that is exclusively focussed only on the high-profile candidates” and say the mayoral race “has become about entertainment, not policy”. They request debate organisers invite them to participate and call on media to give “all candidates an equal chance to communicate policy and vision to the public … Not to do so is undemocratic.”

The latest publicly released poll for the mayoralty has the Labour-endorsed Efeso Collins leading the field, with former Far North mayor Wayne Brown second. Leo Molloy was third, but a drop in support was enough to prompt him to pull out of the race before nominations closed. The Curia/Ratepayers’ Alliance poll report, published last night, showed four of the five “fair go” candidates recording above 2%. Almost three in 10 were undecided, even when urged to state a preference.

Co-leader of the New Conservatives and target of an egging during a debate at Auckland University, Ted Johnston said that despite figuring in recent polling, “I will not stand aside quietly, and allow all the other good candidates to be ignored, and discriminated against and treated as lesser candidates”. He said: “A candidate appears to need to spend a huge amount of money, half a million or more, or have a major political party support them, and a well known campaign team, before the media will take them seriously. This is a huge affront to our very idea of democracy in New Zealand, and I will not quietly tolerate it.”

In his own statement, John Lehmann said: “Democracy depends on full, frank information to the public. It should never be vetted, disguised, manipulated, or withheld. The reason Auckland city is in the mess it’s in now is because others in the past didn’t get a fair go.” He accused media of “sloppy journalism and a clear bias” for describing Efeso Collins and Viv Beck as independent given their endorsements, by Labour and C&R respectively. He added: “The New Zealand public have become fair game in this country’s politics. Lies, half-truths, U turns, and a treat them [sic] like mushrooms has become normalized in party politics, just don’t get caught.” 

Lehmann has pledged to “make big changes and make Auckland a safe, livable affordable city”. He lists on his CV a close friendship with Australian politician Pauline Hanson and creating at the age of 26 the "Muldoon Piggy Bank" – “240,000 made and sold and holds the record for the biggest selling novelty item in NZ”.

The campaign process “favours the rich and those with deep-pocket donors”, said Michael Kampkes, who is prioritising “fighting bone-chilling housing law”. He said: “Media are fixated on the front-runner debates generally hosted by business associations. With 23 contenders it is impractical to invite everyone so media need to rethink how they report in order to ensure their reporting is fair.” The inability to register before mid-July gave those who could afford early campaigning an unfair advantage, he said. “It’s like a yacht race where the time allowed in the start area exceeds the length of the race. For modest budgets registration is often the first opportunity for recognition. Contenders should be able to register a year in advance if they wish to, and, by law, all polling should be based on all registered contenders.”

Michael Morris, who is standing on an Animal Justice Auckland ticket, said he was “the only one openly campaigning for the millions of animals tormented and brutally killed every year in New Zealand.” He added: “The public need to be aware that the loudest candidates are not necessarily those that will do the best for Auckland or for the planet. AJA urge all voters to carefully research the policies, abilities and character of all candidates before making a decision that could have far-reaching consequences.”

For all that there was to celebrate about Auckland, too many residents “don’t like or believe in what our city has become”, said Gary Brown. “So that’s why I’m stepping in to help, with fresh energy, a fresh vision and some good old common sense.” Among the issues he is focused on is homelessness. “As your leader, I would be encouraging council to step in and work more closely with MSD, charity organisations and Police to do more than just treat the symptoms, but look at the cause of this issue,” he said. 

Brown has so far resisted encouragements to run his campaign in the persona of one of his side-hustles: Austin Powers impersonator.

All candidates in the local elections will be invited to outline their case to voters as part of the Policy.nz project, which will be launched on The Spinoff in the weeks ahead. 

The full list of Auckland mayoral candidates is as follows: ​John ​Alcock, Viv Beck, Gary ​Brown, Wayne ​Brown, Tricia ​Cheel, ​Efeso ​Collins,​ Michael Coote, Tony ​Corbett, ​James Malcolm ​Dunphy, David John ​Feist, ​Alezix Heneti, Robert Hong ​Hu, Ted Johnston, ​Michael ​Kampkes, John ​Lehmann, Lisa ​Lewis, Craig Lord, ​Pete ​Mazany, ​Michael ​Morris, Phil ​O'Connor, John ​Palino, Ryan Earl ​Pausing, Dani ​Riekwel.

Follow our politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.