Trackless tram 'junket' to China for Wellington Mayor Justin Lester rejected by regional councillors

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

The Let's Get Wellington Moving team released four options for public consultation in November 2017.

Regional councillors have expressed their shock at a Wellington City Council plan to fly Mayor Justin Lester and city council staff to China on a $5500 per person tour to investigate trackless trams.

Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Paul Swain labelled a plan by the city council to send Lester, senior staff, an unnamed city councillor, and Associate Transport Minister Julie-Anne Genter as 'unbelievable' and not meeting the 'sniff test'. 'This can only be described as a junket.'

Swain's fellow councillors have also raised transparency issues around the trip.

A tour of China to examine trackless trams has been labelled a 'junket' by some regional councillors.

Lester has been approached for comment but said he was in meetings on Tuesday evening and could only provide information about the tour through a spokeswoman.

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Paul Swain thought the trip could 'only be described as a junket'.

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Daran Ponter was selected by GWRC staff for the tour but criticised the proposal too.

At a Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) meeting on Tuesday to discuss the Let's Get Wellington Moving transport plan, general manager Luke Troy said Wellington City Council had invited regional councillors on the tour and would continue with the trip regardless.

The plan was for councillors and staff to visit Beijing and Zhuzhou for $5500 per person - $3000 for flights and $2500 for expenses - to examine three different types of mass transit systems.

It would take place between July 29 and August 2, months before local body elections scheduled for October 12.

Several regional councillors struggled to suppress their surprise at the proposal and a request that thousands of dollars to be spent on a trackless tram tour when a decision on mass transit was several years away.

Swain said the proposal was the 'skinniest document I've ever seen', Ian McKinnon said he was 'amazed to receive this', Sue Kedgley called the proposal 'appalling', and Roger Blakeley said 'it's just not good enough'.

Kedgley said the plan had no travel programme attached or details about the benefits the region would get from the trip.

'I find it quite appalling really that we would get something as thin as this without a programme,' Kedgley said.

'This may be how the Wellington City Council operates because the mayor just makes these decisions, but I do think it's a very thin proposal.'

GWRC considered the issue at their council meeting on Tuesday after an invitation from WCC was extended to them on Friday.

Troy said two cities in China had trackless trams, Lester's preferred form of mass transit.

Daran Ponter, who would have been selected for the trip under the staff proposal, criticised the tour noting Let's Get Wellington Moving was supposed to be a partnership and WCC had made the decision on its own.

'There can be no cutting loose by one party feeling they can go on an international tour and get a sense of things without another partner.'

Trackless trams are the same width as light rail cars, carry about 300 passengers and follow painted lines on the road using a smart guidance system.

Genter's press secretary Henry Peach said the associate minister had been approached to go on the tour but hadn't confirmed she would be going.