AUCKLAND: Meeting Dick Hubbard in a costume store is a novel approach to an interview. He has a party to go to, he says, and is looking for the perfect outfit. He greets me warmly, as he does, nodding with that head of his like an elderly Michael J. Fox, and ushering me over to the tights section. I ask him about the future of Auckland. "This is just what I've been proposing for several years," Hubbard says as he goes through the various costumes marked superhero.

Auckland Mayor Dick Hubbard is delighted with the government's ordering of a Royal Commission to thrash out the future of Auckland. The inquiry will look at the possibility of reducing Auckland's eight existing councils to three or even merging them into a single unit. That would mean fewer mayors, councillors and council staff.

"SuperAuckland has been on my radar for a fair amount of time," Hubbard splutters from behind the changing room curtain. "That's why I have supersized every council project. Take those Nikau trees down Queen Street. A normal city has normal palm trees. SuperAuckland will have super-sized palm trees. A supercouncil will carry out more than just the same functions as the current council, it would include tourism promotion, regional economic development and significant events management. And everything they touch will be supersized."

Hubbard pulls back the curtain, and there he is clad in a blue lycra suit and red underwear and an S emblazoned across his chest. "We're not quite changing the name of Auckland to Metropolis. Not yet anyway," he winks.

SuperAuckland, he predicts, will be a place for the super wealthy. "It has a super future - and we hope to fund it with the rates of these stupid people - money that could better be spent on their super."