Wellington mayor Tory Whanau pledges no punches pulled in swan song

Tuesday, 29 April 2025

Tory Whanau is pledging to take the gloves off as she enters the final months of her tenure with much less to lose.

The Green Party-backed Wellington mayor made the shock announcement that she was pulling out of the 2025 race to make room for Labour candidate Andrew Little.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Post on Tuesday, Whanau discussed the abuse she suffered, the council unity she failed to achieve and how she should have had a term on council before diving into the mayoralty.

And she pledged to unofficially back Little’s campaign.

“We need the best team to run the city, and that would include me and Andrew [on council],” she said

Throwing her, and the Green Party’s weight officially behind Little, could come later with agreement on key policy issues such as completing the Golden Mile and a full cycleway network, she said.

“I imagine those discussions will take place in a couple of months time.”

Whanau said she “wouldn’t say no” to a deputy role to Little down the track, but that had not yet been discussed. The decision to step aside was not due to Labour or Green pressure, she said.

She confirmed she was still aiming to return as a Green councillor for the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori ward. Incumbent Nīkau Wi Neera had decided to step aside about a month earlier, she said.

With just months to leave her mark on the mayoralty, Whanau promised to take the gloves off to get key policies over the line and keep councillors in line.

These included signing a contract for Courtenay Place revitalisation as part of the Golden Mile project, more cycleways, water investment and water reform. She is aiming for more inner city cycleways in her final months.

“The mayor is just one vote and I have new-found respect for [Wellington’s last two mayors, Andy Foster and Justin Lester] before me who have had to deal with the same problems.

“There’s a culture that is ingrained in this place we need to disrupt that.

“What I will not tolerate is bad behaviour and treating other councillors with disrespect.”

Whanau acknowledged she had failed to bring the unity to council she had campaigned on.

She came to power in 2022 on the back of Wellington, having two defeated one-term mayors. Whanau said she was not going to run in 2025, but chose to because of a lack of viable alternatives – until Little came along.

What changed?

“I did have to talk to my family because politics, the political landscape has changed significantly from when I came in as mayor. That’s not just here, its central government as well,” she said.

“It’s become a bit of an ugly place and I was like … can I do another term as mayor?”

Looking back, Whanau said she regretted not first doing a term on council, to learn about the workings of local body politics, before taking on the top job.

She confirmed the Green Party had not pledged any financial support for her mayoral run, but was going to give support via volunteers and a database.

She pledged, if elected as a councillor, to stay the full three-year term and ruled out a run for national politics in the term.