MacManus said he would not put his money on her getting another term as mayor.
“Her biggest achievements that she can point to from this council term is the district plan, which has allowed a lot more housing and the continued cycleway rollout, but neither of those were actually her projects. It was just a continuation under her leadership.”
Wellington hospitality owner Nick Mills said Wellington didn’t need to change, it needed to survive, and Whanau was the right person to lead the city through this.
“You know, we don’t need this massive golden mile. We don’t need it. We need to get what we’ve got back on track. We need to get moving and then do all the big stuff. And I think that that’s where the problem, if you want to mention Tory Whanau, that’s where the problem, she’s been surrounded with people that aren’t giving her the right advice,” he said.
Mills said she could win the next election provided she kept the Greens on side.
“The one thing that will be a downer for her, if she expects everybody that uses a cycleway to vote for her, then she won’t get in because not too many people use them,” he said.
Mills said being in business was “horrific”, but he chose to “fight through” because the alternative was to “lie down and get bulldozed over”, he said.
There was also a lot of fear in the city right now, he said.
“I walked outside to one of my restaurants a couple of months ago and this lovely couple were about to go into the restaurant. They said, ‘we feel embarrassed going out for dinner’ and I thought they were talking about going into my restaurant and they were actually saying that they felt embarrassed that they were going out for dinner because some of their colleagues had lost their jobs,” he said.
These kinds of comments had a domino effect, he said.
“The scare, the fright, you know, if you’ve sitting next to someone and they’ve just lost their job. What does that do to you? It makes you think, ‘wow, when am I next or could I be next? Gee, they were good at their job, and I might lose my job’,” he said.
MacManus said the Government’s move to get public servants back in the office would help the city in the short term.
“I think it’s kind of undeniable having more people in the city and the office is going to mean sales and cafes and after-work drinks. But I kind of don’t think a required captured market is a particularly good way to build the economic base of a city.”
Mills said a change in mindset was needed for Wellington to thrive in the long term.
“I would green light it. I’ve got a little tattoo on my wrist under my watch that says green light.
“I’d become the yes city of, of New Zealand again. If Peter Jackson knocks on my door and he wants to do a movie. ‘Yes. Where do you want to do it?’ If the racing carnival want to do a big racing meeting? ‘Yes. Where do you want to do it?’ I would become the most yes city in the country. And to go along with the beauty of the country, that’s all we need to do. We just need to turn from a ‘no, naysay, to a yes, yes, yes, please, thank you. Let’s get on with it’,” Mills said.
Listen to the full episode to hear Nick Mills and Joel MacManus lock horns over Wellington’s woes and what the future might hold.
The podcast is presented by Susie Nordqvist, a former presenter and producer for TVNZ and Newshub. She began her career as a newspaper reporter and was a finalist for best newsreader at the NZ Radio & Podcast Awards for her work at Newstalk ZB.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
