Where Wellington’s mayoral candidates stand on the big issues

Thursday, 17 April 2025

Andrew Little has announced he is running for mayor of Wellington, joining incumbent Tory Whanau, current councillor Ray Chung and four others in a rapidly intensifying race.

It is early days, with the election set down for October 11 and candidate nominations closing on August 1.

But the major players are already kicking off their campaigns talking about some of the city’s biggest issues. Here’s where they stand on each of them.

Rates

Wellington’s ratepayers are paying a third more than they were in mid-2023. Under the proposed Long-Term Plan, that will increase by another 12.2% for the 2025/26 financial year.

According to Little, this is making Wellington an unaffordable place to live. “I think there are questions to ask about the way the council is spending, and whether it's spending too much on capital projects that could actually be phased over a longer period.”

But it is too soon to say where any potential savings might lie, he added. “I will go through that in detail in the coming weeks. But I have seen what is in the LTP amendment document, and we need to think carefully about what is good for Wellington right now, as opposed to what was several years ago.”

He wouldn’t go as far as promising zero rates rises - which Ray Chung is committed to - calling that “not credible”.

Ray Chung disagrees. “We can run the city fine with the amount of rates we are getting,” he said. “Our rates income is about $560 million, which is a huge amount of money for all the things council needs to do. But we spend it on niceties - like free bike repair workshops and EV chargers.”

Incumbent Tory Whanau said work has already been done to cut capital expenditure, and now it just needs to play out.

“We have already managed to cut $300 million from our capital programme. So when others talk about reducing rates, the only options are to remove our community services, or mothball our library and town hall upgrade,” she said.

Housing

Both Whanau and Little named housing as a top five issue likely to influence voters this election.

Whanau said the council is already driving housing accessibility through changes to the district plan and investment in Te Kāinga, a council-led partnership that converts office space into affordable rentals. If re-elected, she would like to work with central government to speed up investment in the programme, as well as social housing.

Little would also focus on investing. “The district plan is fine,” he said. “I think it’s about making sure builders and developers know that they have the support of council to get on and build houses where they need to be.”

Chung, on the other hand, said social housing should be a matter for central government.

“We’re doubling up. We’re paying our taxes so the central government can build social housing, but we are also paying rates so the council can do it,” he said.

He doesn’t like the council investing in inner-city apartments either. “The costs of building any high-rise are huge. You spend so much of your money on foundations before even getting off the ground. For anything with a few floors, you need to install lifts. It is a very expensive way of building housing.”

Bike lanes

The roll out of the city’s bike network has been one of the most controversial developments in the past three years. But Little’s stance is mild.

“I think it’s important that cyclists are able to travel the streets of Wellington safely, and I support them for that reason. Although I do question the execution in some areas,” he said, adding that he would not look to reverse any that are already installed.

Chung, on the other hand, is open to it. Referring to the recently-completed Glenmore Street lane, he argued it wouldn’t take much to remove.

“All we’d be doing is picking up the little dividers and repainting the road, so I can’t understand where any huge costs would come from.”

But Whanau is on the defensive. “Our bike lane roll out makes up less than 1% of our rates, so I will continue to push back on anyone saying that removing cycleways will save us money,” she said.

Golden Mile

Another controversial topic has been Whanau’s commitment to the Golden Mile project. Spades are expected to hit the ground this month, but the issue is far from settled.

“The Golden Mile is at the top of my list of unnecessary spending,” Chung said. “My colleagues say we have to do it now because we are getting this free money from NZTA. But there is no such thing as free money - we still have to pay half.”

Little is also sceptical of the spending. He would not re-litigate any contracts that have been signed for the Courtenay Place part, but he would “reassess the phasing” of the rest of it.

“[The project] doesn’t have to happen immediately. … It’s a good idea, but I think we have to be sensitive to current conditions which are very difficult for a lot of businesses,” he said.

Whanau is standing by it. “Almost every day, people talk about how bad Courtenay Place is,” she said. “It is important for Andrew Little to note, actually, that we have already re-phased the project. We’re not doing Lambton Quay at this stage, we’re just focusing on Courtenay.”

Other confirmed mayoral candidates include Kaffee Eis-founder Karl Tiefenbacher, predator-free champion Kelvin Hastie, Wellington Live owner Graham Bloxham, and former city councillor Rob Goulden.