Wellington mayor Tory Whanau cancels monthly slot on Newstalk ZB’s morning show with Nick Mills

• Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has withdrawn from her monthly slot on Newstalk ZB.
• Whanau’s team cited a desire to diversify media engagements and explore other communication avenues.
• Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills said he was disappointed the mayor would not be fronting up to constituents regularly on the show.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau has pulled out of her monthly slot on Newstalk ZB’s local flagship radio show in a move host Nick Mills has labelled “disappointing” for the city.

Mills announced on his Wellington Mornings show today that Whanau had told him the segment was “not the direction she wants to go in this year”.

He read out a statement from Whanau’s team, which said they appreciated the opportunity to engage with Mills and ZB’s audience over the past two years through the monthly interviews.

“As part of a broader effort to diversify our media engagements and increase accessibility for a wider range of journalists, we are making adjustments to the mayor’s interview schedule. The mayor will still be available for interviews with Nick as issues arise.”

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has previously regularly appeared on Newstalk ZB’s Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The statement said Whanau’s team valued the opportunity to share her work with the public and had decided to “explore other avenues for communication”.

“As such, the mayor will not be doing the monthly slot as previously arranged.”

Mills said the tradition of having Wellington’s mayor on the show in a regular slot to answer questions, take calls, and help listeners understand what was happening with the council and city had been ongoing for as long as he could remember.

“I respect her decision but I’m deeply disappointed for us, for us as the people of Wellington that our mayor doesn’t want to front up to her constituents,” he said.

“It personally disappoints me that we will no longer have Tory Whanau as a regular guest. Even if Tory isn’t on regularly we will continue to hold her and her council to account on the issues that matter.”

It is not the first time a politician has pulled out of a regular radio slot with a Newstalk ZB host. In 2021, then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern withdrew from her weekly interviews with breakfast host Mike Hosking, saying she and other ministers would appear on the country’s top-performing commercial radio show “as and when issues arise”.

Hosking said at the time Ardern was “running for the hills” and the Government was “over being held to account”.

Host Nick Mills said he was "deeply disappointed" by the decision. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“Without being too unkind to some of the other players in this market, the reality is the Prime Minister enjoys a more cordial and more compliant relationship with them. The questions are more softball, she favours a more benign pitch where the delivery can be dispatched to the boundary more readily with no obvious chance of an appeal,” he said.

Whanau has made headlines multiple times following appearances on Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills.

In December 2023 she spoke on the show about having a drinking problem and had decided to seek professional help.

Whanau promised Mills “it’s different this time” after previously saying she would keep certain socialising to her home, but then admitting an alcohol problem after being seen drunk in public again.

“I let myself down because I said I wouldn’t do that again and I did. I let down the people of Wellington for slipping up, but what I want to really, really reiterate is that it’s different this time,” she said.

Whanau also drew attention for comments on Mills' show about how she had to sell her car to help pay the bills due to the cost of living crisis.

She made the comments after Mills pressed her on whether she was feeling the financial pressure of the economic downturn they had been discussing.

“I don’t want to downplay the privilege that I have. I am the mayor of the city, I have a house and I’m very thankful for that,” she said.

“However I’ve just sold my car recently to kind of help pay the bills, I walk to work again, my mortgage rates have doubled in the past few years. So I’m feeling the crunch as well, but I also recognise the privilege that I have.”

Whanau has also spoken about the failed Reading Cinema deal, admitting the secrecy around the $32 million deal went on for too long.

The cinema building was closed in early 2019 after an earthquake risk was discovered and it has since become a symbol of the tired state of Courtenay Place - a street that has traditionally been a key part of the nightlife and entertainment offering in Wellington.

The mayor told Mills the details of the deal had been kept under wraps for too long.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice, and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.