Wellington City councillor call for Crown-appointed observer

Thursday, 19 September 2024

Amid days of high tension at the Wellington City Council, a group of councillors are calling for a Crown-appointed observer but the idea is described as “mischievous” by a local government expert and rubbished by the mayor.

The call has been led by councillor Diane Calvert and backed by councillors Tony Randle and Ray Chung. It comes after Finance Minister Nicola Willis called out the council’s “flip-flopping”, leading to Mayor Tory Whanau blaming a small group of councillors – understood to be Calvert, Nicola Young and Tony Randle – who in turn said the mayor and council were to blame.

Calvert called on Local Government Minister Simeon Brown to appoint a Crown facilitator –a measure less severe than a commissioner, which would take over running the council. It would technically be a Crown-appointed observer with a “facilitation mandate” – someone to help mediate and repair the council’s inner turmoil, as well as its relationship with other councils and central government.

It comes after Calvert warned that recent events – a second vote on selling the council’s 34% stake in Wellington Airport and central government water reforms – were so substantial the recently completed council long-term plan may need a major re-write.

Whanau said the council did not need a facilitator or observer and it was a threat Calvert had made “time and time again”.

“The reality is that we have a detailed plan and strong vision for this city to be the most efficient, sustainable and inclusive place it can be,” she said. She accused “some councillors [of] re-litigating and disrupting decisions simply because it doesn't align with their view”.

The majority of councillors worked well together, she said.

“We should not let a select few impact this progress.”

Simeon Brown said he was “not currently considering appointing Crown observers or managers to Wellington City Council”.

Dean Knight, a Victoria University expert in public and government law, said the suggestion that the council changing its long-term plan might trigger a Crown observer or commissioners was “mischievous”.

A long-term plan only stated the council’s intentions for the coming decade and amendments were allowed. The airport share sale was always going to come back to another vote, he said.

“Folk watching, especially ministers, shouldn’t confuse tricky politics and hard decision-making with governance problems or bang the drums of despair if ideological questions about asset sales don’t go their way.”

The airport share sale and water reform issues were going to hard issues but part of the “ebb-and-flow of life and politics”, he said.

“Folk knew that the plan to sell airport shares was a reluctant and fragile compromise, especially as councillors were ridden to the brink when the long-term plan was adopted and weren’t given the chance to properly express where the politics lay at the time.”

By the time the full, elected council got to vote on the airport share sales they could only vote against it by voting down the entire long-term plan. It passed an earlier committee vote as a standalone item thanks to the votes of the two appointed pouiwi mana whenua representatives, who can’t vote on the full council.

Councillor Tim Brown said the council was making big decisions around housing and water and it was absurd that this would be taken out of the hands of the democratically elected council.

John Apanowicz, Laurie Foon, Geordie Rogers, Rebecca Matthews, Sarah Free, Nīkau Wi Neera, Teri O’Neill and Iona Pannett all opposed Calvert’s call.