Lee was first elected to the Auckland Regional Council in a by-election in 1992 and was elected chairman in 2004. He held the position of parks chairman, and oversaw the acquisition of substantial further parkland by the council during his time. He wrote his thesis on such matters as land titles on Hauraki Gulf islands. He counts helping to stop the privatisation of Ports of Auckland as one of his major early influences at the Regional Council. Before becoming chair of the council, Lee was at times called a 'maverick' for opposing its more conservative members. He contested the electorate in the as an Alliance Party candidate and came second after National's Lockwood Smith. With the amalgamation of the Regional Council into the Auckland Council in 2010, he was elected in the Waitematā and Gulf ward as an inaugural councillor. He was critical of the form of the new council as created by the Fifth National Government, and especially of the creation of large business-like council-controlled organisations to manage substantial parts of the council-owned assets and services at arm's length from actual council control. One of his key projects in the 2000s was successfully pushing forward the electrification of Auckland's rail network, succeeded by his support for the construction of the City Rail Link tunnel to increase the capacity of the rail system, both projects often against strong opposition from national government. Lee was also instrumental in a campaign that resulted in the reopening of the Onehunga Branchrail line to passenger traffic, allowing services to begin on the Onehunga Line in 2010. Lee was re-elected in the 2016 Auckland elections, despite a challenge from Bill Ralston. Lee unexpectedly announced in late-June 2019 that he would run again for councillor in the 2019 elections, a move seen by some as splitting the centre-left vote. The City Vision ticket, which had endorsed Lee in 2016 by not fielding a candidate, had selected Pippa Coom as its candidate in March 2019 on the understanding that he would not stand again. While running a close second, Lee lost his councillor seat to Coom in the subsequent election.
Private life
Lee was married to Sandra Lee-Vercoe. They separated in 1992. Lee completed an MSc thesis entitled New Zealand the 10,000 island archipelago at the University of Auckland in 1996 – it has not been published. He spent 12 years researching and writing Navigators & Naturalists: French Exploration of New Zealand and the South Seas , which was published in 2018.
