Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau to push ahead with airport sale despite split council

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau is proceeding with selling the council's 34 per cent share in the airport.

At least three Wellington City councillors have changed their mind about selling the council’s airport shares, meaning that if the same vote were held again tomorrow the move to sell would fail.

Regardless, Mayor Tory Whanau is pushing ahead with the sale and appears to have left no opportunity for it to be revisited.

This has caused some councillors, who have always been opposed to selling, to feel they are unable to support the council’s long-term plan.

The airport sale is part of the long-term plan, a 10-year budget, that’s due to be confirmed next week.

It’s understood Whanau has a slim majority to pass the plan but is preparing to use her casting vote if she has to.

There is a near majority of councillors looking to oppose it, fuelled by opposition to the airport sale and concerns around debt headroom.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has warned it would be a “significant issue” if Wellington City Council was unable to pass the budget.

The grunt work for the budget has already been done. Councillors have undertaken the lengthy process of voting issue-by-issue.

This includes the council voting at a committee level to sell its 34% share in the airport. The proceeds of the sale would be transferred into a new green perpetual investment fund to diversify the council’s portfolio.

Usually, all that remains is a rubber stamping exercise. However, the airport sale has soured considerably.

Councillors Ben McNulty, Nīkau Wi Neera and Nureddin Abdurahman, who all voted against the sale, have publicly withdrawn their unconditional support for the mayor’s policies after the controversial airport vote.

They are concerned it was presented to them by council officials as a fait accompli, that the mayor did not campaign on the sale but championed it, and it was revealed at the eleventh hour that $450 million of capital spending would need to be cut if the shares were not sold.

They hoped there might be an opportunity for the airport issue to be taken as a separate vote when the budget is confirmed next week. This would effectively mean the airport can be voted on again.

Agenda documents for the meeting, published in the last 24 hours, show that is not on the table.

McNulty said he wanted to support the long-term plan because there were many good things in it but was not in a position to do so if the airport sale could not be voted on separately.

“My reading is that there wouldn’t be the numbers at the council table to support the airport share sale. So, for the proponents of the airport shares, I don’t believe there would be a desire to pull that out for a vote.”

Abdurahman hoped there was still the opportunity to bring forward an amendment to vote on the sale separately.

It would be undemocratic if this was not allowed to happen by ruling any amendment out of order, he said.

Councillor Ben McNulty said he wanted to support the long-term plan but was not in a position to do so if the airport sale could not be voted on separately. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed councillors Tony Randle, Diane Calvert and Nicola Young have changed their minds and now oppose the airport sale.

Randle said capital spending has not been reduced to maintain $272 million of insurance debt headroom, which he said was their condition for supporting the sale.

Given the situation, Calvert proposed a three-month extension to make decisions on the long-term plan.

In an email to councillors this morning, seen by the Herald, Whanau said council officials have advised this was not an option for the council.

“Equally, it is not appropriate given we have gone through a 12-month process to get the LTP [long-term plan] in front of us now, including public consultation. Not all councillors agree with every aspect of it, but a majority have.

“I do not believe a majority of councillors share your concern about the debt headroom and wish to make the cuts you propose. We have had those debates and votes several times through this LTP process and landed with the balance we have - some cuts to capex, but continuing to deliver vital projects for the city.”

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.