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Wellington City Council is “sensitively” managing the removal of pro-Palestine graffiti amid conflicting councillor requests
Official documents show left-wing councillors have asked for some pro-Palestine graffiti to remain
The council’s chief operating officer said the council has to be cautious not to take political sides, raising the question of pro-Israel graffiti
Wellington City Council says it’s sensitively managing the removal of pro-Palestine graffiti, with official documents showing several left-wing councillors recently requested that council staff not paint over Palestinian flags and messages for a ceasefire, despite council policy.
There has been an increase in pro-Palestine graffiti across the city in recent months, with activists pouring red, green, white and black paint down the side of high-rise buildings, representing the Palestine flag, to raise awareness of the war in Gaza.
There have also been several incidents of red paint being thrown across the Israeli Embassy and Defence House.
The current issue relates to graffiti on private property, with vandals scaling buildings to paint messages and symbols.
In December, a Palestinian flag was painted on the front of a central Wellington commercial and residential building by a group of tenants, as well as red hand prints symbolising blood.
Documents show in May a member of the public lodged a Fix It report with the council, requesting graffiti in the Garrett St area be cleaned up.
The graffiti was then painted over by council contractor SB Maintenance.
A Palestinian flag which was painted over by Wellington City Council contractors in central Wellington. Photo / Instagram
The council routinely removes graffiti from street-facing public and private property in the city centre when requested by the public.
The council’s website states its “current priority is in removing graffiti on council property, and on street-facing private property, where we have budget available”.
“When the council gets reports of graffiti that is offensive, we aim to get that removed urgently.”
Official documents reveal Labour councillor Teri O’Neill advocated for the Garret St flag painting to remain, emailing council officials asking: “What’s happened here?”
“I thought we had adopted a policy of not painting over flags if they’re not on public property?” O’Neill questioned.
“Justice for Palestine were under the impression that the council had said they wouldn’t be removing Palestine flags and calls for ceasefire where they’re on private property.”
Mayor Tory Whanau responded to councillor O’Neill, saying: “I’m also going to raise with Barbara this afternoon”.
Barbara McKerrow is Wellington City Council’s CEO.
Labour councillors Teri O’Neil and Rebecca Matthews. Photo / Mark Mitchell
In response to the mayor’s email, the council’s chief operating officer James Roberts responded saying it was removed after a member of the public reported graffiti in the area.
“That particular building is a regular target for graffiti,” Roberts said.
“In determining what is graffiti, the contractor has assumed that any unplanned/unauthorised graphics that are on the finished wall are included. There is some judgment call here, and that is an inevitable risk of this kind of work where we are rapidly trying to remove a large and ongoing volume of graffiti across the city.
“Apologies if this has caused distress or offence. We will discuss the matter with the contractor to get greater clarity over what should and should not be included in their work” he said.
Political graffiti and posters now cover the wall of a Garrett St building where council contractors removed a Palestine flag. Photo / Ethan Manera
In response to questions from the Herald, O’Neill said in a statement she stands by her position, saying “street art is an important part of political expression”.
She said the council’s “censorship” of the graffiti was a “political choice”, which “undermines freedom of expression and freedom of speech”.
She also raised the question, “what would you do if you had family in Gaza? If your daughter’s remains were handed back to you dismembered in a bag?
In another incident, councillor Rebecca Matthews was contacted by a constituent about what was described as a “beautiful Palestinian flag and the words ‘Free Gaza’” painted on a wall at a park in the suburb of Wilton.
The constituent asked that it stay. “Someone obviously felt strongly enough to create this artwork and share this message, which I wholeheartedly agree with. It also looks beautiful and doesn’t interfere with the use of the board to bounce balls against. It would be a waste and misuse of council time and money to have it removed.”
Matthews asked Roberts in an email: “Can we stop this being removed?”
In response, Roberts said “the painting has been left as is”.
“But, with the greatest possible respect, I think we have to be very cautious here that we are not seen to be deliberately taking sides (i.e. are we a neutral public service organisation?) unless there is a political resolution to do just that,” Roberts said.
“For example, should we also stop painting over pro-Israel paintings, or painting over painting that is pro a local political party/position (e.g. Act, NZF, Green, National, Labour, Antifa, Extinction Rebellion, Destiny Church etc)?” he said.
When asked by the Herald about her email, Matthews said she referred a residents’ request to staff, and said “clearly lots of Wellingtonians are concerned about peace and justice for Gaza including me”.
“It’s distressing to see an escalation of hostilities in the region and this is just a small way one of my constituents expressed that.”
Emails released also show councillor Ray Chung raised the issue of paint poured down the side of a building on Cambridge Terrace, asking council staff if it could be removed, “but was told that’s on private property so they have to clean it off themselves”, he said.
“It was a touchy subject as the paint they poured down the side of the building went onto the cars below!” Chung wrote.
When asked by the Herald what the council’s position is on the removal of pro-Palestine graffiti, a spokesperson said the council had to make “sensitive calls” when faced with political or controversial graffiti.
They said sometimes those decisions may upset sections of the community.
“The situation also becomes more complicated when it’s not clear whether the graffiti is on public or private property. Our staff and contractors generally compare notes before making a call whether to remove graffiti, posters etc.”
Whanau refused to comment on the issue.
Wellington City Council last year voted to initiate a “Friendly City relationship” with Ramallah, the de facto capital of Palestine.
Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in politics, local issues and the public service. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story and can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz or messaged on X (formerly Twitter) via the handle @ethanjmanera.
