Will the City to Sea Bridge survive Wellington’s cost-cutting spree?
The infrastructure icon could be demolished after the council decided against funding the full cost of Civic Square repairs.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, November 10, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Electoral Commission apologises for vote count errors; Under-fire Labour minister forced to defend ‘three-day jaunt’ to Paris; and Bernard Hickey talks to an entrepreneur promising a new solution to the first-home deposit problem. But first, a marathon council meeting has set the stage for a lean decade in Wellington.
Wellington’s City to Sea Bridge
A Wellington infrastructure icon faces the threat of demolition
I have a Polaroid photo of my sister and me sitting on the steps of the City to Sea Bridge. It was taken in 1995, just a year after the opening of the bridge decorated with steampunk-ish sculptures inspired by Māori legend and the ocean it overlooks. Almost 30 years on, the bridge remains a vital connection between the CBD and harbour, but its future looks shaky. While the bridge is not an earthquake risk, it suffers from serious structural issues – specifically, its piles do not extend fully into bedrock – and the council has decided not to fund repairs, instead earmarking a smaller sum to “investigate other options including demolition”. The vote was taken at yesterday’s meeting on the council’s long term plan, during which councillors made all sorts of funding decisions (though not final, binding votes) that will shape the future of Wellington.
Cycleway plans scaled back, airport shares may go up for sale
The Spinoff’s Wellington editor, Joel MacManus, was at the meeting and liveblogged the whole thing. Wellington Council is trying to cut hundreds of millions from its budget, jeopardising the transformative agenda that mayor Tory Whanau campaigned on last year. Along with the bridge decision – which also turns off the tap on funding for repairs to the Civic Square basement and the former Capital E building – cuts agreed to yesterday include $25m that would have switched swimming pool heaters from gas to electricity, and $71 to go from the citywide cycleway budget. Subject to public consultation period, the latter would “still mean the full rollout of all the planned cycleways, but the lanes would be of lower quality, with less physical separation between bikes and cars,” writes MacManus. The council also voted to explore selling its 34% stake in Wellington International Airport.
Water companies jostle to be first in line for Three Waters replacement
One issue that didn’t get much play at the meeting was the state of the water supply, the council apparently pinning its hopes on the new government to solve the city’s multi-billion-dollar pipes problem. This morning the NZ Herald’s Thomas Coughlan (paywalled) reports that Wellington Water wants to be a test case for a new system that National says will restore “local control” – minus Three Waters’ controversial co-governance requirement. Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry, who chairs the Wellington Water Committee, says Wellington has a “head start” because councils have already partly amalgamated water management, and he’s preparing a request to be first through the doors. However he remains worried that National hasn’t committed to giving the new water entities balance-sheet separation from councils, which would allow them to take on more debt to tackle their enormous repair-and-renewal backlog. Up in Auckland, Watercare has warned that it may have to introduce large price hikes from next July if balance-sheet separation doesn’t happen, BusinessDesk’s Oliver Lewis reports (paywalled).
Parking to stay on K’ Road for now
Staying with Auckland local government, Auckland Transport has backed down on plans to remove car parks on Karangahape Road after an intervention from Mayor Wayne Brown. At present parking is allowed during off-peak hours, but AT had planned to remove all on-street parking from next week, citing the “need to make way for 100 additional bus services, including the new Western Express”, Newshub’s Zane Small reports. With many K’ Road businesses up in arms, Brown stepped in and AT now says the car parks will stay – for now at least. "Sooner or later there’s going to be more buses going through K' Road and you have to come up with some sort of result that allows for that," Brown told RNZ. The delay will give AT time to readjust its approach, he said.
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Electoral Commission apologises for vote count errors
The Electoral Commission (EC) has discovered data entry errors at 15 voting places along with an entire ballot box from the East Coast electorate that was left off the official count. EC yesterday released amended official results for the election after a NZ Herald investigation earlier this week prompted a “full check” of results. The commission’s board will request an independent review of quality assurance processes to make sure the errors don’t occur again, the Herald reports. Ensuring accuracy is the primary reason behind the lengthy gap between election day and official results, and the chief electoral officer says he’s disappointed the mistakes were not picked up in quality assurance processes during that period. Meanwhile EC is also investigating complaints about a voting place at Manurewa Marae, where te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Tarsh Kemp is the chief executive. She won in Tāmaki Makaurau by just 4 votes over incumbent Peeni Henare, with a recount set to begin on Monday.
Under-fire Labour minister forced to defend ‘three-day jaunt’ to Paris
It’s been a tough week for Labour’s Ginny Anderson. The former Hutt South MP was forced to apologise yesterday after the mother of a 17-year-old volunteer accused her of bullying behaviour. Now The Post’s Andrea Vance (paywalled) reports that Anderson took “an expensive three-day jaunt to Paris, funded by the taxpayer” in June. The trip to an OECD conference cost a total of $51,000 and included business-class airfares for Andersen and a staffer that cost more than $33,000, Vance reports. A spokesperson for Anderson says the costs were approved by Cabinet and “are comparable to other Ministerial travel at that time”.
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A new solution to the first-home deposit problem?
New fintech startup Aera says first-home buyers would need to save for an infinite number of years to secure a house deposit. Founder Derek Handley joins Bernard Hickey to discuss Aera's plan to help first-home buyers to get onto the property ladder, with a new take on the bank of mum and dad.
Click and Collect
Homophobic, misogynistic and violent content has allowed a NZ policing-themed social media account to gain a growing following, including among members of the NZ Police.
Vanuatu’s climate change minister urges the new NZ government not to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration in the Pacific.
Israel to begin four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Gaza to allow civilians to flee, the White House says.
Ministers are set to lose their jobs tomorrow, but nobody is ready to replace them. So what now?
Asia Martusia King ranks New Zealand’s cities by the grossness of their pigeons. The US veto of a UN resolution for a humanitarian pause in Gaza shows the problem with the UN Security Council, says Mira Karunanidhi. The boss of Newstalk ZB has held talks with The Platform about a possible “relationship”, reports Stewart Sowman-Lund. Toby Manhire reveals the secret coalition talk fragments. And Calum Henderson looks back at the amazing day when Bill English put spaghetti on a pizza.
Sporting snippets
The Black Caps have all but locked down a World Cup semi-finals spot after beating Sri Lanka by five wickets.
How a Canadian retirement home adopted the NZ men’s curling team.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.
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