Wellbeing or well spent? Wellington Water backtracks on hidden spending

Saturday, 19 April 2025

Wellington Water is being accused of an “atmosphere of extravagance” as it backtracks and reveals hidden spending, showing a $9400 wellbeing conference and a $2000 staff knees-up.

Ratepayer-funded Wellington Water was scorned earlier this week for releasing, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, details of where it spent money in the last financial year but redacting the amounts spent.

It now says the amounts were “withheld in error” and re-released the list with costs.

That shows that its alliance partner Fulton Hogan invoiced for $127m in the last financial year – a figure eclipsing the next highest contractors. Next on the list was Brian Perry Civil, which invoiced for $39.5m.

Wellington Water is owned by councils in Wellington, Upper and Lower Hutt, Porirua and South Wairarapa but, with its days likely numbered as a new water entity comes in, it has been under fire in a number of reports.

One found weakness in its financial systems and that it was at significant fraud risk, another found it was overpaying contractors, while one in 2023 found duplicated jobs and soaring costs. A further 2021 report, highlighting some of the issues in the latest report, was overlooked and just came to light.

Much further down the newly released list shows a series of spends not obviously related to water infrastructure.

The utility spent $9019 over a series of visits to Petone Italian restaurant La Bella Italia, $1610 on a mindfulness conference and workshop for Mental Health Awareness Week, $5600 for a series of nutrition workshops, $2500 on skin checks, and $9430 on a wellbeing workshop and conference.

There was also a $2049 event at the Speights Ale House in Petone “for a wellbe [sic] all staff quiz night” attended by about 60 people who got two alcoholic drinks and supper.

Upper Hutt mayor Wane Guppy said most workers out in the elements, and in higher need of skin checks, were employed by contractors – not Wellington Water.

The wellbeing and related spends revealed the “atmosphere of extravagance” at Wellington Water, he said.

“It’s a very good example of when you are using someone else’s money, ultimately they don’t care,” he said.

The costs of the big contractors was not a surprise but what was in question – and highlighted in recent reports – was the value the region was getting for the spending, he said.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau planned to ask Wellington Water about the rationale for spending which appeared “unrelated to their core mission”.

“With the current cost of living crisis and considering that ratepayer money is for critical water infrastructure maintenance and upgrades, we must ensure every dollar is spent responsibly,” she said.

A statement from Wellington Water said its costs were focused on core business such as water treatment, and the “health, safety and wellness of our teams”.

“We are acutely aware of the fact that we are spending ratepayers’ money and are committed to being financially prudent and demonstrating value for money,” it said.

“However, it’s also important to acknowledge that our staff have to work under high pressure situations and it’s important we take care of their wellbeing and safety.”

Wellington Water said the initiatives are “investments in the resilience, effectiveness and productivity of our people” and the organisation believes they are essential to maintaining strong performance.

“Like any responsible organisation, we know that when our people are well—mentally, emotionally, and physically—they’re more capable of doing their best work, especially through periods of uncertainty and transition.”

The statement said that the utility understood delivering these initiatives in a cost-effective way was a core responsibility.

The workshops consisted of four hour-long workshops, two covering keeping well at work, one on building a positive workplace culture and one on practical tools for managing mental health during challenging times.

Attendance for these sessions was not officially tracked.

Porirua mayor Anita Baker and Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry, who also chairs the Wellington Water Committee, were approached for comment.