Huge water leak in Wellington delivers perfect backdrop for Christopher Luxon’s speech on council spending

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.

ANALYSIS

• Christopher Luxon criticised council spending during the Local Government New Zealand conference in Wellington.
• Luxon urged councils to focus on basics like rubbish collection, pipe repairs, and pothole filling.
• He used Wellington’s $180 million convention centre as an example of wasteful spending.

Welcome to Wellington, where council leaders from around the country have met in a convention centre that the Prime Minister thinks is an example of wasteful spending and is just down the road from a burst water main that has turned a street into a paddling pool.

The Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) conference started today in the capital. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon could not have asked for a better backdrop to deliver a sharply worded speech about council spending that did not go down well with some of Wellington’s leaders.

Luxon hit back at councils demanding more funding and support from central government while avoiding tightening their own belts.

Ratepayers did not expect to pay for the “laundry list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country”, Luxon said.

He urged councils to get back to basics like picking up rubbish, fixing pipes and filling potholes.

It just so happened that a burst water main flooded the road between Vivian St and Buckle St in the capital this morning.

A water main burst on Kent Terrace in Wellington this morning. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Luxon obviously couldn’t have planned such a spectacular example of Wellington’s water woes but even if this particular water main hadn’t burst, it wouldn’t be difficult to find a nearby leak to refer to as a current example in his speech.

The situation played well for Luxon as he told councils to rein in fantasies and get back to delivering the basics brilliantly.

He also took advantage of the LGNZ conference location - Wellington’s $180 million Tākina convention centre. The audience of mayors from around the country was audibly disgruntled.

“It looks very nice, and it’s very nice that politicians like us have a wonderful space to make some great speeches in,” Luxon said.

“But can anyone seriously say it was the right financial decision or the highest priority for Wellington, given all of its challenges?”

Tākina has been criticised as a white elephant.

A recent report revealed the convention centre is not performing as well as was hoped, partly due to a decline in government events in the capital. Tākina’s net position was last reported as being down $1.2m compared with the budget.

To be fair to Wellington City Council, the convention centre is from former Mayor Justin Lester’s era when water pipes were not making headlines.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau in Wellington's new convention centre which has been criticised as a white elephant. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The unseen network of pipes sprawling in the shadows beneath the city was catapulted into the spotlight at the end of 2019 when 6.5 million litres of wastewater spewed into Wellington’s harbour after a critical tunnel collapsed under the CBD.

In his speech, Luxon went on to announce the Government was going to investigate performance benchmarks for councils and options to limit council expenditure on “nice-to-haves” via revenue caps.

Performance benchmarks would be in areas councils should already have a close eye on such as financial performance and customer service delivery, he said.

So, how has Wellington reacted?

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman Daran Ponter said Luxon’s “views were interesting” but Ponter would not elaborate further.

Green Party regional councillor Thomas Nash said Luxon’s speech was “one of the most mana diminishing, paternalistic and visionless speeches to a group of people I have ever heard”.

“He offered no positive vision whatsoever for the future of the country or for local government, simply talking down to the hundreds of people elected by their local communities with ‘I know best’ criticism punctuated by vague references to regional deals and revenue tools,” Nash posted on social media.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau said the speech missed the opportunity to talk about how shared problems could be solved.

“Instead he punched down, telling us to ‘tighten our own belt’ before asking for central government support.”

Whanau said councils have had limited scope to raise revenue for decades and rates have been kept artificially low for years because it is politically difficult to do otherwise.

Millions of dollars of savings have already been found at Wellington City Council, she said.

There was no more fat to trim if the council wanted to continue fixing key infrastructure and build a thriving and resilient city, Whanau said.

“Barking at us that we need to be better is tired and unhelpful,” she said.

Labour Party Wellington City councillor Ben McNulty posted on social media: “Luxon’s speech to LGNZ shows that central government are basically p***ed off their tax cuts have been eaten by rates increases and their solution is to belittle them instead”.

Green Party Maori Ward councillor Nīkau Wi Neera said the Government’s announcements were an “unbelievable executive overreach”.

“Incredible to talk about the benefits of devolution when cutting funding, meddling with, and capping council spending on crucial projects. It is not for central government to decide how councils invest their rates. It’s up to locals to decide how we fund the hundreds of unique services councils provide,” he said on social media.

Georgina Campbell is a Wellington-based reporter who has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist.