Tory Whanau’s ‘shambles’ Wellington City Council: Should Simeon Brown run a mile? - A Capital Letter

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown met this morning after the Government threatened to intervene at the council.

THREE KEY FACTS

• Wellington City Council has stopped the sale of its 34% share in Wellington Airport.
• The Long-Term Plan will have to be amended, potentially involving significant cuts to capital spending.
• The Prime Minister says the Government is concerned and would not hesitate to intervene.

Senior journalist Georgina Campbell’s A Capital Letter column takes a deeper look at issues in Wellington, where she is based. She has a particular interest in local government, transport, and seismic issues. She joined the Herald in 2019 after working as a broadcast journalist

OPINION

If a left-leaning council with a Green-endorsed mayor wants to sell assets and make big budget cuts, Simeon Brown should consider leaving them to it.

To intervene now risks association with the further controversy Wellington City Council has signed itself up to.

The Local Government Minister is seeking advice on potential interventions at the council after it voted to stop the sale of its 34% share in the airport.

The decision has upended the council’s Long Term Plan (LTP) and Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has warned there are tough choices ahead.

The council has to decide how to plug the gaping financial hole the airport sale has left.

It could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to capital spending, scrapping community projects and selling other assets like the council’s ground leases and carbon credits.

The LTP could be salvaged but the process to get there is not going to be pretty.

The Local Government Act says the Government can intervene with the likes of a Crown observer or commissioners if it’s believed there is a “significant problem”.

Tearing up an LTP that was voted on as recently as June is the closest the council has been to meeting this threshold in recent years. Officials are expected to report back to Brown with their view on this shortly.

Government intervention is a high bar and while ministers should be concerned, even Whanau has acknowledged they are right to be, it’s fair enough that councillors have pointed out they haven’t broken the law - yet.

Many councillors would argue they should be allowed to try and fix this themselves which involves the painful process of amending their LTP and making decisions that will inevitably upset the community.

Whanau would have made the case for that at a meeting with Brown earlier today after which she claimed the topic of Government intervention was not raised, nor were any concerns the minister had about the council.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau supported the airport share sale but says she accepts democracy has spoken. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Brown should consider whether the Government wants to be associated with the very “shambles” that he is so concerned about at the council.

There would be no love lost in Wellington - a city that also voted for two Green electorate MPs when a blue wave engulfed much of the country in the last general election.

If it all turns to custard by the time the council’s amended LTP is due to be adopted in June next year, local body elections will be just months away.

It appears a Crown observer would be the most likely form of intervention if the Government did decide to get involved. Commissioners would be over the top given the council is not yet in a deadlock with its decision making.

The danger with a Crown observer is they just become a person for all the councillors to nark to.

It wouldn’t be the first time someone like this has been catapulted into Wellington City Council in a time of perceived crisis.

Former Mayor Andy Foster brought in a facilitator to try and sort out his divided council. It’s difficult to point to any significant improvement as a result of that intervention and that’s not a reflection on the facilitator’s skill but rather the nature of the council.

A governance review ordered by Foster said: “A related common theme through the interviews is that external perceptions of the council are that it has been somewhat dysfunctional for more than a decade”.

It remains to be seen what Brown will do but with advice due “in coming days” we can expect to find out sooner rather than later.

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.