Wellington Mayor 'not losing sleep' over Government relocation pledge

Monday, 6 November 2017

Wellington has long been the centre of Government, providing thousands of jobs in the city, but Labour has pledged support to NZ First's plan to 'relocate government functions into the regions'.

Justin Lester has dismissed risk of a loss of government jobs in the capital, claiming he and key Labour colleagues in Parliament are 'on the same page' on the issue.

The Labour-NZ First coalition agreement includes a 'commitment to relocate government functions into the regions'.

Wellington Mayor Justin Lester has said he will fight for every job in the capital, but is not losing sleep over the Government's statement.

A priority of NZ First which Labour has promised to support, the pledge gave no specific commitments. NZ First leader Winston Peters, who has made numerous promises to boost regional New Zealand, declined to provide details.

Lester - who ran for the Wellington mayoralty under the Labour Party ticket - said previous governments had promised similar measures before, but the city had retained tens of thousands of public sector jobs.

John Milford, chief executive of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, said a pledge to relocate functions was likely to be 'aspirational'.

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'In the past here they've sought to move people around or even take it across the region [but] people want to live here,' Lester said. The core of the Government was in one place, for good reason, he said.

'There's a benefit and also a cost saving efficiencies in being close to government, close to the ministries, close to Parliamentarians, and having all the agencies in one place. There are disbenefits in taking it away, and people understand that and so for the most part, Wellington will always be the core.'

Lester said he knew Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis and finance spokesman Grant Robertson well, and had discussed the government functions pledge.

'We've had these conversations and I think we're pretty much on the same page. I'm not losing any sleep over this whatsoever.'

Lester said he has exchanged text messages with Ardern and arranged to have quarterly meetings, but had not yet spoken to the new Prime Minister.

'I'm giving her some breathing space until she get her Government up and running.'

Wellington's economy was becoming more diverse, with growth in professional services, technology, food and beverage and tourism.

'We've known that the government has always been a risk. You can't have all your eggs in one basket. So the whole city's been working to diversify that for a long time now,' Lester said.

'We will fight for every job in Wellington and always make a case to keep it here, but also understand there's a broad need to have services around the country.'

An aim to reducing the size of government in the capital is nothing new.

The last National Government had a more general pledge to cut the number of 'core' public servants, while focusing on what it said were 'customer facing' roles.

The project appears to have had mixed results, with the overall number of public servants climbing slowly during its time in office, and the proportion of those based in Wellington climbing to 41.9 per cent in 2016, the highest since it took office in 2008.

At 19,248, Wellington's public service headcount was more than twice that of Auckland, a report by the State Services Commission said.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive John Milford said while he needed to see more detail of the pledge to understand it, the aim of relocating services out of the capital was usually 'aspirational'.

A significant move would have a major impact on the capital's economy, from commercial space to retail businesses. However the move would be costly, and undermine the benefits of currently being in one place, Milford said.

'I would say that the likelihood of even a small number moving out would be slim, bearing in mind the public service is in one city in the first place due to the fact that for the most part their officials need to be accessible to the Government, and vice-versa,' Milford said.