Not the end for Wellington Airport shares, mayor's opponents say

Friday, 28 June 2024

Despite ongoing drama about the sale of the airport, Mayor Tory Whanau had the support of eight colleagues and the 10-year plan was voted through.

Councillors say this is not the end of the road for the battle to keep the airport shares.

The Wellington City Council voted through its budget, including the planned sale of the airport shares, in the face of protesters from Unions Wellington who lined the public gallery with signs reading “Don’t make Roger Douglas proud”.

There was a sense of betrayal in the meeting, with some councillors angry at progressive colleagues for undermining the mayor and others furious their colleagues were voting to sell a strategic asset.

Heated debate over the long-term plan (LTP) yesterday showed that for some, the question has already become a talking point in anticipation of next October’s local body election.

“Today is the beginning of the end of a number of political careers. It doesn’t give me any joy to state that, but the progressive councillors of this council must be under no illusion what this LTP means,” said Ben McNulty in a speech targeted at his colleagues.

Mayor Tory Whanau pushed for the sale of the shares, winning the support of all but one of her Green colleagues for the long-term plan.

The decision to sell the airport shares from an ostensibly left-wing council was a betrayal of the volunteers who campaigned for a progressive council and mayor, he said.

Mayor Tory Whanau stood by the plan, saying it addressed difficult problems.

The council’s 34% shareholding in Wellington Airport would be sold to establish a perpetual investment fund, which would partially address the council’s $2.7 billion gap in insurance cover.

“The decisions that we made yesterday, while significant, will deliver the investment that our city needs to continue to be a place where people and nature thrive while balancing our economic constraints.”

Whanau interjected when McNulty started to list reactions from Green Party members to her airport stance, saying they were angry at Whanau: “Councillor, can you keep it relevant to the debate?”

Nīkau Wi Neera says he will fight the sale of the shares until October 2025 if necessary.

Nīkau Wi Neera, the only Green councillor to vote against the plan, said it had been “personally pretty horrible for me to act as the villain and push back against my team-mates and my colleagues, with whom I thought I shared values and shared promises to our people”.

Wi Neera said he would rather not have to fight, but would continue until October 2025 “if that’s what it takes”.

All was not lost for the campaign against the asset sale – staff promised there would be another vote on the sale, once the details were worked through in December.

Legal expert Dr Dean Knight from Victoria University of Wellington confirmed that voting through the plan “only states a local authority’s intentions”.

“A decision to sell the shares will still need to be taken at some point.”

Chief financial officer Andrea Reeves told councillors in the meeting that there would be another vote in December on the sale of the shares, with further information.

Ben McNulty thinks it is “incredible” that the mayor would not let him or his colleagues raise amendments to stop the sale.

McNulty said he was sceptical that councillors would be given a “straight up and down vote” on the airport in December without it being tied to the rest of the long-term plan.

Given the “incredible” ruling out of amendments by Mayor Tory Whanau today, he did not think it would be allowed to go to a vote.

Whanau had ruled amendments from McNulty and Wi Neera out of order, for contradicting the vote of the long-term plan committee.

The councillors had a vocal reaction, as did the protesters gathered in the gallery, who erupted into outraged laughter when Whanau said her ruling “is democracy”.

Teri O’Neill said in debate that it had been “quite a shame to pack a sad because you don’t know how standing orders work”.

Looming over the debate was the threat that commissioners would be brought in if the council voted against its 10-year budget, a sentiment which was expressed by Whanau on Morning Report ahead of the meeting.

Local government minister Simeon Brown was asked whether he would have brought in a commissioner had the mayor not been able to pass the plan. He did not directly answer.

“They are democratically elected to make decisions, that is their job. They are elected as councillors and as a mayor, to sit around that table and make decisions. That is exactly what they did today,” Brown said.