Councillors asked mayor to call off 'misconceived' inquiry

Thursday, 16 November 2023

Mayor Tory Whanau says she remains committed to working collaboratively with all councillors.

Councillors tried to convince Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau to call off the investigation into their colleagues, but were told it was too late.

Last week Tim Brown, John Apanowicz and Sarah Free asked Whanau to call off the Code of Conduct investigation into five councillors, questioning whether it was the best approach.

“I don’t see a lot of benefit out of this in terms of creating a unified council,” Brown said.

The process “feels misconceived” and had “not exactly covered the council in glory”, he said, pointing to the different accusations levelled at the Wellington City councillors being investigated.

Five councillors ‒ Diane Calvert, Ray Chung, Iona Pannett, Tony Randle and Nicola Young ‒ are under investigation for leaking by prominent lawyer Linda Clark.

Tim Brown is one of the councillors who have questioned the Code of Conduct inquiry approach.

The independent investigation revolves around information published by The Post detailing a deal where the council would purchase the land under the Reading Cinemas complex on Courtenay Place. The deal was first discussed by councillors in a closed-door meeting where the only information made public was that it was a “City Activation project”.

Further details have since been leaked about the deal, revealing that the purchase price is $32 million, Reading would have the option to buy back the land at that price, and earthquake strengthening would need to be completed by 2035.

The draft review, leaked to The Post earlier this week, found there was “insufficient evidence” to say who had leaked information about the Reading Cinemas deal, but nonetheless found all five had breached the Code of Conduct by commenting to the media.

Deputy mayor Laurie Foon made an official Code of Conduct complaint about the initial leak and public comments, which was accepted by the mayor and chief executive.

Councillor John Apanowicz says the leaks are disappointing but he’s not sure what the inquiry process will achieve.

Apanowicz said he had talked to the mayor about the different types of conduct at issue ‒ which for some councillors was commenting to the media rather than leaking information. Investigating five councillors was not the best way to stop leaking, he believed.

“I don’t understand what we’re trying to achieve through the Code of Conduct process.”

Apanowicz was disappointed in the disclosure of confidential information, saying it was one of the worst things councillors could do during commercial negotiations. But he and Brown agreed that the formal inquiry process made the council seem more dysfunctional than it actually was.

Free declined to comment on the meeting with the mayor last week.

Whanau said she could not comment on the investigation itself while it was in progress, but said the unanimous decision on council priorities made at last week’s Long Term Plan meeting showed the council could work together effectively.

“I remain committed to working collaboratively with all councillors for the betterment of Wellington.”

In his 2021 review of Wellington City Council’s governance, brought on by dysfunction in the previous council term, Peter Winder cautioned that Code of Conduct complaints “have a tendency to morph into the cause for further problems and the widening of rifts”.

“Typically, the greatest loser is the credibility of council as an entity … There are almost always more positive and constructive ways for differences to be resolved.”

Earlier in the year Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry supported Local Government New Zealand’s moves to set up a mediation service for councils, saying the Code of Conduct process was a “completely flawed” way to resolve disputes.