Wellington City Council votes to stop controversial airport shares sale

Wellington City Council has voted to stop the controversial sale of its 34% share in the airport, with one councillor saying it’s the “dirtiest politics” she had been involved with.

Mayor Tory Whanau, who supported the sale, said she was disappointed with the outcome.

“However, I am just one vote around the council table and other councillors have voted for it not to proceed. I accept that. Now we must move on and look at other ways to address the challenges we face.”

Whanau warned this would involve some tough choices.

The council’s long-term plan will be amended to reflect today’s decision which could result in cutting hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital spending.

Councillor Sarah Free, who has been on the council for more than a decade and supports the sale, said: “This is the dirtiest politics I’ve been involved in since I have been on this council”.

The sale has divided the council and cast its usual voting blocs to one side. Some of the strongest opposition to selling has come from Labour councillors, their local party arguing the airport is a strategic public asset critical to the city’s economy.

It has cost Whanau crucial support after three left-leaning councillors publicly withdrew their unconditional backing for her policies.

The council’s two mana whenua representatives have also accused some councillors of deliberately excluding iwi voices from being heard, jeopardising their relationship.

Taranaki Whānui chief executive Kara Puketapu-Dentice told councillors today the issue highlighted an absence of cohesive and collective leadership.

“Instead we see chaos, confusion and disunity.”

Labour councillor Nureddin Abdurahman’s Notice of Motion (NoM) to stop the sale was debated at a tense council meeting this afternoon.

He said the airport was a strategic asset and when he stood for council, he did so with the promise to protect public ownership.

“Today I intend to keep that promise.”

The Wellington City Council has a 34% share in Wellington Airport. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Fellow Labour councillor Ben McNulty asked Whanau to accept support for the sale did not exist.

“This needs to be the start of a new conversation about how to tackle the big challenges facing our city. I encourage the mayor to work with all councillors as well as our mana whenua representatives to start this important work.”

Green Party Māori ward councillor Nīkau Wi Neera said he opposed the sale but there was a “right way to win and there is a wrong way to win”.

He said the way the NoM was worded disenfranchised the council’s Māori partners.

“Iwi have been used as a football for the past month which is totally contrary to the mana-enhancing principles which underly our Tākai Here partnership.”

Tākai Here is a partnership agreement between mana whenua and the Wellington City Council, signed in 2022.

Two mana whenua representatives in this partnership have a seat on council committees with voting rights but not at full council meetings. They both support the sale.

Part of the NoM wanted to suspend any further involvement at the committee level regarding amendments to the long-term plan.

The “unintended consequence” of this was excluding mana whenua from not just the airport issue but also potential changes to water services following new Government legislation.

Councillors did not support this element of the NoM when they voted today, meaning mana whenua will be involved in the process to stop the sale.

Wi Neera reflected on what he described as his “own failings” regarding the NoM.

Labour councillor Ben McNulty asked the mayor to accept support for the sale did not exist. Photo / Mark Mitchell

He said misunderstandings could have been solved by the concerned parties getting in a room together.

“As Māori ward councillor, I represent the bridge between the institution and tangata whenua therefore the responsibility to facilitate this coming together ought to have been mine and I have failed.”

He asked for the NoM to be withdrawn.

Abdurahman acknowledged the pain caused and said he had tried to resolve any issues in “the most respectful manner possible”.

Whanau said she was “deeply saddened” that the council’s relationship with iwi had been compromised.

“Mana whenua were here long before the airport was built and this process has clearly hurt our partnership with them.

“I hope all councillors will reflect on how this decision has been made and work to rebuild that partnership.”

The book value of the council’s airport shareholding was $278m in June 2023; however, market value could be as high as $500m.

Council officials have said selling the shares would help solve two serious financial risks: the council’s $2.6 billion under-insurance problem and the lack of diversity in its investment portfolio.

The plan was to reinvest the proceeds of the sale into a perpetual investment fund.

Council officials have advised that reversing the decision on the airport will require an amendment to the long-term plan, including consulting with the public again on options to sell or keep the shares, to be finalised by June 2025.

They said it could also result in the need to cut $600m from the council’s capital spending to create additional debt headroom to respond to insurance risks.

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.