How the Wellington Airport saga split the left
The first of a three-part series investigating the events that led to the appointment of a Crown observer in Wellington
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Wednesday, November 25.
Written by Alice Neville and Anna Rawhiti-Connell
In today’s edition: tributes flow for former National minister and MP Nikki Kaye; Bishop wants to ‘level playing field’ for community housing providers; home loan rate cuts ahead of today’s OCR review; But first, how an attempt to sell shares in Wellington Airport has derailed a mayoralty.
The events that led to central government intervention
This morning we bring you the first of a three-part series by Oliver Neas investigating how an attempt to sell the Wellington City Council’s shares in Wellington Airport divided the city’s political left and created a dramatic showdown between councillors and activists.
These events led central government intervention via the appointment of Crown observer Lindsay McKenzie. McKenzie started in the role on November 13, his term concluding on 31 July next year.
Twenty-five years on from one attempted sale, another has ‘derailed a mayoralty’
An earlier attempt by the council to sell its stake in the airport in the late 90s when Mark Blumsky was mayor failed. The government moved on without the council, selling its airport shares to Infratil, an infrastructure investment firm, leaving the council a minority shareholder of a for-profit company.
As Neas writes, “Twenty-five years after the attempted sale of Wellington Airport brought down a government, another attempt has derailed a mayoralty.”
“In May, the Wellington City Council — led by a Green Party mayor, Tory Whanau, and with a progressive majority — voted to sell the city’s airport shares and use the proceeds to set up an investment fund. It was pitched as a solution to the insurance problems of an earthquake-prone city; opponents saw the proposal as a betrayal of fundamental left-wing principles achieved through dirty tactics. The fallout has been extreme, opening up a chasm between politicians and the bureaucracy, exposing faultlines on the political left, and ultimately leading to the central government appointing a Crown observer.”
The unwinding of the council’s 10-year plan
Wellington city councillors voted last month not to sell its 34% stake in Wellington Airport. The Spinoff’s Joel MacManus described the debate about asset sales as “a fascinating real-time case study in co-governance and what it means to uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi.” The decision not to sell meant the Long Term Plan (LTP) required a rewrite, with cuts needing to be made to find hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.
The Golden Mile survives
Yesterday, the council met for six hours, voting to reduce the budget, which will inform the development of the proposed LTP amendment. More than 20 amendments were made in a bid to save $558m. Further consideration will take place on December 17 at the LTP Committee. As RNZ’s Ashleigh McCaull reports this morning, the $113m plan to transform Wellington’s Golden Mile, which will see private cars banned between Lambton Quay and Courtenay Place, and offer walking and cycling improvements, survived.
The Herald’s Georgina Campbell reported from yesterday’s meeting, writing, “Wellington City Council’s Crown observer has endured capital punishment — an almost seven-hour council meeting.” Campbell has a full breakdown of the projects that are proposed to be cut, rephased or rescoped:
The brief but wonderful history of the Z Manu World Champs
Last summer’s inaugural Z Manu World Champs took Aotearoa by storm, turning a beloved pastime into a high-stakes showdown. Now the divebomb contest is back for summer 2024/25, supported by Z Energy. From backyard pools to national qualifiers, Kiwi of all ages are gathering to pop the ultimate manu for a chance to compete at the grand final in Tāmaki Makaurau, with the online Z Manu Wildcards giving manu fans the ability to get involved from anywhere around the country. Read more about the upcoming champs – and Z’s role in making them happen – in our story here (sponsored)
The ‘indomitable’ Nikki Kaye
Former minister and MP Nikki Kaye died on Saturday, aged 44. Her family held a private service for her on Monday before her death was publicly announced.
Former National party leader Todd Muller called Kaye a “beautiful soul” with a “deeply caring heart fuelled by a ferocious energy to serve her party, community and country, often at the expense of her own health”. Former prime minister Sir John Key said Kaye had tremendous “tenacity, determination, and dedication to everything she did”.
Kaye entered parliament in 2008, aged 28, and was in parliament for 12 years.
Kaye was appointed to cabinet by then-prime minister John Key in 2013 and held a range of portfolios, including Education, ACC, Civil Defence, Immigration and Youth Affairs.
In 2016, Kaye was diagnosed with breast cancer. She returned to parliament in 2017 before announcing in July 2020 that she wouldn’t contest the upcoming election.
As Toby Manhire writes, Kaye twice “saw off challenges from another promising young politician, Jacinda Ardern, in Auckland Central – a territory she prowled day and night like a proud, enraptured cat.” As Manhire notes, Kaye’s successor in Auckland Central, Chlöe Swarbrick, said yesterday that Kaye’s “work in Auckland Central set the bar for what it meant to be an electorate MP and respected across the aisle.”
“She was a strong voice for the arts, for the queer community. An avowed “blue-green”, she fought for marine protection in the Hauraki Gulf and more than once spoke out against her own party’s position on mining,” Manhire writes.
Bishop wants to ‘level playing field’ for community housing providers
Rule changes relating to the delivery of social housing will “level the playing field” between community housing providers (CHPs) and Kāinga Ora, according to the housing minister. “I don’t care who builds social and affordable houses, as long as they get built,” said Chris Bishop when he announced the new measures yesterday. “I am agnostic as to whether those houses are delivered by community housing providers or the government.” The new measures include changes to the contracts for new housing supply to make these projects a more attractive prospect for investors, as interest.co.nz reports.
Bishop said the government was also considering a range of options to support CHPs’ access to debt. Banks tend to lend to CHPs via commercial lending requirements rather than residential, reports Interest.co.nz, which carries higher risk weights, meaning higher interest rates. “Broadly, we agree with you and think the risk weights may be overcooked for lending for social housing,” Bishop said in his speech. A day before the government’s announcement, not-for-profit Community Finance launched the Community Housing Funding Agency, which will act as an intermediary to aggregate the finance requirements of leading CHPs and issue privately guaranteed bonds, reports BusinessDesk (paywalled). Community Finance chief executive James Palmer said if the government stepped in to guarantee the bonds issued by the CHFA, it could lower the cost of borrowing even further.
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The Spinoff Live in Auckland: The Year in Review is on sale now
After a sold-out event in Wellington, Anna Rawhiti-Connell will take a running jump backward into the year’s biggest headlines, political dramas and Spinoff yarns in Auckland at Q Theatre on December 11. Anna will be joined onstage by special guests, rose-tinted glasses and Christmas cheer.
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith looks into why longform current affairs content has an expiry date on TVNZ+. Diana Wichtel remembers her years in London in an extract from her new memoir. Madeleine Chapman has bad news for grinches: the Christmas tree in central Auckland is wonderful. For The Cost of Being, a vinyl-loving, ebike-riding dad counts his costs.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading.
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