Will the Wellington Council survive until the next election?
Will the Wellington Council survive until the next election?
The government is seeking advice on whether it could – or should – intervene.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, October 16.
In today’s edition: Upset over a proposed amendment to the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill, former Green MP Darleen Tana is heading back to court, and get ready for the latest inflation figures. But first, threats of intervention by the government at Wellington City Council.
Threats ramp up
Government ministers have raised the prospect of intervening in Wellington Council, or potentially even triggering an early election. It all started with comments made by finance minister Nicola Willis in an interview with Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan on Monday evening. Willis described the council as a “shambles” and revealed that the local government minister, Simeon Brown, was keeping a close eye on the situation. By Tuesday morning, the prime minister Christopher Luxon had weighed in, telling du Plessis-Allan’s colleague Mike Hosking that he was concerned. “If we have to make an intervention we will,” he said. Brown, who actually has the power to step in, later told Stuff that discussions about the council actually started with officials last week and he asked for advice on Sunday.
At this point, these are simply threats – and threats that were only made public after questions on live radio. Politically, it’s understandable why the government would wish to publicly reprimand the Wellington Council given previous demands from the PM to “rein in the fantasies” and ditch the “white elephants”. But to actually do anything would be a drastic move given there is a local election in less than 12 months time which would give the people of Wellington their chance to have a say.
The final straw
We’ll take a look in a moment at what options are actually on the table, but first, how did we end up here. There have been numerous high profile issues in Wellington reported over the past few months (from bursting pipes to drama over the Reading Cinema complex). While not all of this can be laid squarely at the foot of the current council, there is nevertheless a growing perception that Wellington his reached a boiling point – and the council isn’t helping. In her piece for The Post yesterday, Andrea Vance made reference to this by noting that in the same week government ministers consider what to do about the council, “traffic banked up under the windows of the Beehive” from an apparently “controversial” new cycleway build.
Her Stuff colleague Glenn McConnell added that while some of Wellington’s challenges are “not unique”, it has nevertheless become something of a punching bag for the government. But until last week the prospect of any sort of government intervention seemed highly unlikely. The final straw was a frenzied debate on Thursday in which the council voted not to sell its 34% share in the airport, forcing the can of worms that is its long term plan to be reopened and, as explained by The Spinoff’s Joel MacManus in his latest Windbag column, bringing constitutional questions around te Tiriti o Waitangi to the fore.
If it all sounds messy, that’s because it has been. But even on Friday, the day after the vote failed, Whanau was denying need for any sort of government intervention and instead calling the failed vote “a bit of a blow”.
What options are on the table?
Brown’s powers are all clearly laid out in black and white in the Local Government Act, and there is a particular threshold that would need to be reached for any intervention to be permissible (in short, it requires the minister to “on reasonable grounds” believe there is a significant issue impacting the region the council represents).
During that interview with Newstalk ZB on Monday night, Nicola Willis was pushed on what action could be taken should the government choose to step in. “You often hear people talking about a commissioner, but there are things other than a commissioner that he can do." It could be reading too much into it, but Willis’s comments suggest a less serious option is more likely here. One such possibility, as raised by former mayor Kerry Prendergast in an interview with Newstalk ZB, would be to bring in a a Crown observer to assist the council and provide updates to the government. Or, Simeon Brown could trigger an early election in Wellington – the more democratic option given it would give the city the chance to decide whether it was comfortable with the existing council (but nevertheless an option that comes with a cost, especially given an election is just around the corner). Brown, reported Imogen Wells for ThreeNews, hasn’t ruled out doing this.
If you’re getting déjà vu…
It’s not unheard of to have government step in to address local government chaos. We’ve talked previously talked in The Bulletin about Tauranga, which recently held its first election in five years after commissioners replaced the council in 2019. The then-local government minister Nanaia Mahuta stepped in after “significant governance problems among the council’s elected representatives”, explained the Bay of Plenty Times.
The commission chair was Anne Tolley, a former National minister, who told The Post’s Kevin Norquay this week that the threshold for intervention is high, and can risk upsetting voters who believe they should be the ones to decide who runs the city. “To override democracy is extremely unusual and unique, and the law requires a really high test. The legislation protects the democratic process,” Tolley said.
Wellington Council, while facing very real and urgent challenges, would appear to be in a better situation than Tauranga was at the time commissioners were brought in. Though if dysfunction is the bar, some councillors have publicly backed the need for action. "To quite a few of us, and the public included, intervention has been needed for some time," Wellington councillor Diane Calvert told RNZ.
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Why last-minute changes to the Hauraki Gulf protection bill are stirring up a stink
The Spinoff’s Gabi Lardies looks at the proposed law to protect the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana, and why an amendment to allow some commercial fishing in high protection areas has provoked outrage. Over the weekend, conservation minister Tama Potaka confirmed the government would proceed with the long-awaited law, but with slight changes including that “ring-net fishing will continue… in protected areas”. Potaka defended the move: “This method has very little impact on the environment beyond the target species”.
As noted by Lardies, the amendment was not recommended by the select committee that considered the draft bill, but had been put forward in at least one submission.
Of course, the submission is written by people who do not support the bill. The first red flag is easy to spot. Even with the new high protection areas, fishing will only be prohibited in only about 6% of the gulf – [are] there really no other places to fish in the remaining 94% of it? One marine scientist I emailed said he found it “hard to believe”.
The Darleen Tana saga drags on
Former Green MP Darleen Tana is heading back to court in another last ditch attempt to stay in parliament. The now-independent MP will appeal a High Court ruling that allowed the Greens to proceed with a meeting at which they’ll decide whether to use the party hopping rule and oust her from parliament, reported RNZ’s Giles Dexter.
The meeting was originally scheduled for September, but put on hold after Tana’s first attempt to stop it through the court. It’s now been months since allegations were first raised of migrant exploitation at her husband’s business. An independent inquiry subsequently determined Tana was “likely” to have had knowledge about this, but Tana has denied it.
Despite Tana’s appeal, Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick remained optimistic about the party’s plans to meet tomorrow. Should at least 75% of party delegates agree to use the party hopping rule, then the Green co-leaders will proceed. “Right now, we're feeling confident about where we're at," Swarbrick said. "I feel incredibly confident in the wisdom of our membership.”
Join us for a one-night only live event
We’re huge fans of local television here at The Spinoff, and for one night only we want to celebrate some of our all-time faves. Join Alex Casey, Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Stewart Sowman-Lund and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith at Q Theatre on October 31 as we unearth some beloved TV gems and argue for their place in our history.
Click and Collect
Lester Levy resigned from five private health sector roles that posed risks of conflicts of interest the day before he began working for Health New Zealand.
A general manager at Palmerston North Hospital told a thousand people on a WhatsApp channel that Indian nurses must stop using their language in any public space at work. Meanwhile, health minister Shane Reti says nurses should be able to speak a language other than English with their patients.
The Post’s Luke Malpass looks ahead to today’s inflation figures, explaining why they’ll likely show the fight is over (at least for the time being).
I love an interactive map, and Newsroom has one for all 149 proposed fast-track projects.
The latest 1News Verian poll reveals 51% of people think Christopher Luxon is out of touch with voters.
There have been a few more reports about Narrative Muse in recent days. I suggest you catch-up with this excellent Spinoff Cover Story on the subject if you missed it last month.
Legislation giving family violence survivors the power to quickly dissolve abusive marriages is expected to pass with unanimous support today.
Christchurch swan Ken has found his Barbie after an extensive search and viral campaign.
Home Education: Rachel & Felix
Our second episode features Felix, who is neurodiverse and found it difficult to find a school that fit him. Now, he’s making friends at Forest School where he goes weekly and building up his confidence at improv theatre classes. He’s taught at home by his mum Rachel, who never thought she would be home educating, ever. Struggling at times to keep Felix motivated in his learning at home, Rachel taps into his passion for world history (and their recent discovery of a former top-secret bunker in Mt Eden) as the means to inspire deeper engagement.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.
Hardship, healing and hope – Liam Rātana attends the 501s conference. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith shares her tips to survive a 24 hour movie marathon. Duncan Greive has five reflections on a part riotous, part reverent Metro Restaurant of the Year event. Toby Manhire identifies the losers, losers and other losers in polling a year after the 2023 election. Lynzi Armstrong describes her research showing that two decades after decriminalisation, stigma around sex work persists. For The Cost of Being, a retired teacher anxious about what comes next shares his costs, and his love of oysters.
In other news…
Winston Peters famously hates polls, except when he can send tweets like this. Find the poll he’s referencing here.
That’s it for this morning, thanks for reading. See you back here tomorrow.
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Please don't let Newstalk ZB decide what's right , literally, for Wellington. Stop repeating their reckons. Wellington is largely young , progressive and inclusive. We love cycleways,infrastructure, public transport and road cones.
This attack on Wellington City Council has two purposes - to divert from the utter incompetent crashing of the economy by this government, and the anti-democratic one of getting rid of political opposition (with some councillors very upset that they outvoted and want to throw all the toys out).
Note that the PM was unable to provide any technical or expert advice to support his reckons about to “rein in the fantasies” and ditch the “white elephants” when asked under the OIA for such advice. Not that minor points like no supporting facts stops him mouthing off.