Labour MP Phil Goff is to announce on Sunday that he will run for the mayoralty of Auckland.

OPINION: It's time. We need strong leadership in Auckland. This is my last column for the Sunday Star-Times.

I saw Paul Callaghan not long before he died. Right to the end he was passionate about his country and what could be done to make it better.

Sir Paul Callaghan, scientist, entrepreneur, and New Zealander of the Year, wanted to see us thrive and prosper. Sadly, he noted that over his lifetime he had seen our relative living standards fall from third in the world to near the bottom of the OECD countries.



He put this decline down to reliance on exporting traditional commodities which had fallen in value consistently for 40 years.



As our living standards slipped, in particular relative to Australia, New Zealanders left for better opportunities overseas at a rate of 40-50,000 a year. We are losing our best and brightest, including nearly a quarter of our university graduates.



Callaghan said that what New Zealand needed to do was to refocus its economy on exporting high value, knowledge based products and services. We needed to invest more in research and development. We needed to promote a culture of innovation and creativity. We needed to encourage entrepreneurial skill. New Zealand had to become a place where talent wanted to live.



Quality of life and environment are good reasons to live in New Zealand. To keep and attract the young, the innovative and creative, however, we also need exciting and attractive urban environments in which to live and work.



With more than a third of the country's population and production, Auckland is New Zealand's international city. It has the best chance to compete with Sydney, Melbourne, and beyond to attract the talented people we need in order to thrive.



Auckland's advantage is that it offers us choice and opportunity in learning, in work and in recreation.



With cultural and ethnic diversity, it is an interesting and exciting place to live. I love going to festivals such as Pasifika, Diwali, Eid, Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival. With Paris at the forefront of our minds, we can celebrate that in New Zealand diversity creates richness not division.



Lonely Planet rates Auckland in the top 10 of the world's best cities to visit. It's a place where I can enjoy the buzz of the city yet within a 40 minute drive can be walking along a beautiful and near deserted beach. It is a city of two coastlines, three harbours, a thousand beaches, volcanic cones and regional parks to enjoy.

We are a centre of learning with Auckland University in the world's top 100 universities and other strong tertiary institutions which attract international and domestic students.

With greater investment in research and development and the availability of venture capital, we can become the place that Paul Callaghan envisaged. We are not there yet.

New Zealand is sixth in the world at publishing high tech research reports. Yet we only 63rd in high tech manufacturing output behind Senegal, Bulgaria and Latvia.

I have had discussions at places such as Auckland's Media Design School which is the number one ranked 3D animation, visual effects and game development school in the Asia Pacific Region. Auckland University's Power Electronics Group has produced world-leading technology for induction charging of electric cars. We need to multiply enterprises like these.

Redevelopment of our waterfront and opening up harbours to the public are part of our efforts to create a better urban environment. Good urban design with plenty of public open space as we intensify, and maintaining the best of our heritage, are essential for a better and more attractive Auckland.

More, however, needs to be done. We have to meet head on the challenges of unaffordable housing and traffic congestion in Auckland.

These problems undermine our quality of life. We must run the city more efficiently and effectively so we can achieve the best results, doing more with less to curb soaring rates.

We need strong leadership in Auckland and effective partnership with a central government that understands that Auckland has to succeed for New Zealand to succeed.

These changes will allow us to help realise Paul Callaghan's vision for a place where talent wants to live.

This is my last column for the Sunday Star-Times. It's been a pleasure to write for it and to be able to talk about some of the things I feel passionately about. Thanks for the opportunity.

JUDITH COLLINS RESPONDS

Sir Paul Callaghan was an inspirational, great New Zealander. He had a vision for New Zealand to be a world leader in technology. Of course, we already are - but more so in use of technology to produce food. New Zealand's economy has been built on hard work and science. They're not mutually exclusive.

Phil is right to be sharing Sir Paul's vision. I'm sure all Kiwis would agree. The issue though, is how to implement it. Who will pay for it?

Auckland needs an inspirational leader who has a plan for Auckland's future. A leader who can articulate that plan, implement it and be accountable for it.

Phil will announce on Sunday afternoon that he is seeking the mayoralty: he thinks he can be that leader.

If Phil wants Sir Paul's vision to be a template for Auckland the new mayor will need to focus more on his own backyard.

Under the current mayor, Auckland Council has involved itself in such international issues as the TPPA and Global Climate change. Instead of strutting it on the world stage they should have been focused on Auckland.

Auckland is a fantastic city, a great place to live. But there is still much to be done- infrastructure, transport, and housing are major issues to deal with. That is the challenge for Auckland's next leader.