Tory Whanau insists Wellington City Council will be fine, plan to be presented to Simeon Brown

• Tory Whanau has requested a meeting with Minister Simeon Brown after revelations about potential interventions at Wellington City Council.
• Whanau called an urgent meeting with councillors to discuss options after the council halted the airport share sale.
• The council must amend its long-term plan and cut up to $600m in capital spending.

Tory Whanau has hit back at Government ministers, saying Wellington City Council is “absolutely not a shambles” and that she plans to show them that everything will be “fine”.

Speaking to RNZ’s Midday Report, Whanau said she was not considering resigning after her plan to sell the council’s 34% share in the airport was stopped last week - upending the long-term plan (LTP).

The sale was designed to 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 situation has prompted the Government to seek advice on potential interventions at Wellington City Council.

Whanau has requested a meeting with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and has called an urgent meeting for all councillors this afternoon.

She told Midday Report the council would work on a plan to present to Brown tomorrow.

“I want to meet with Minister Brown and show him that we’re going to be fine.”

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau supported the sale of the council's airport shares but says she respects that democracy has spoken. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Whanau said she would not characterise the council as being “a shambles” but conceded ministers were right to be concerned by what they had seen.

“Last week’s decision was really, really tough on people. It was even said in the meeting that it brought out the worst of us in many ways but the discussions with many councillors have been positive. We all want to move forward and that’s what I’m focused on.”

This afternoon’s meeting was not a crisis meeting, Whanau said.

“It’s coming together to test our appetite for the risk that we’re willing to take on in the event of a disaster or earthquake, what that might mean for the amount that we’re underinsured for and what we want to set up as a form of self-insurance.”

Whanau said the council’s focus was delivering outcomes for Wellington.

“I’m confident that we can come up with a plan which will give the Government confidence intervention is not needed.”

The airport vote was a significant loss for Whanau who championed the sale and planned her 10-year budget around it.

The council now needs to amend its long-term plan and cut up to $600 million in capital spending to create additional debt headroom to respond to insurance risks.

Brown said yesterday that the Government was yet to receive advice but ministers were very concerned because it looked like “a shambles”.

“Ultimately, this is concerning for Wellington ratepayers who are looking at this and asking, ‘what does this mean for my rates bill – I’m already facing some of the highest rates in the country, is that going to make them go up even further?’,” Brown said.

Brown said he was looking at options under Part 10 of the Local Government Act. These include formal requests for information from the council, appointing a Crown observer, a Crown manager, or even a commission.

There was a “high threshold” for intervention because the council had been democratically elected.

“They are voted by Wellington ratepayers to make decisions so any intervention has a high bar,” Brown said.

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.