Begonias or bust: Why the Begonia House lies at the heart of the local government dilemma

Sunday, 16 February 2025

Tracy Watkins is editor of the Sunday Star-Times and The Post.

OPINION: The capital’s Begonia House may be saved and I’m feeling torn about it.

I’m torn because the Botanic Garden is Wellington’s equivalent of New York’s Central Park. There are shaded woodland trails, hidden treasures like the children’s fairy garden, running creeks and a sculpture park. We take the dog there most weekends; our walks invariably end at the Begonia House and rose garden.

So like many residents, when Wellington City Council (WCC) earmarked the Begonia House for demolition, I was sad. But then the predictable happened; there were protests, outrage, and a backlash against the council. Which is why I’m so torn. Because I sympathise that when a much-loved landmark disappears we should mourn it. But I’m also not unaware that the $11-$20 million cost of earthquake repairs is a lot of money in the current environment.

Today, Hospice NZ has written about the loss of specialist palliative care advisers within Health NZ due to funding cuts. These are roles that I consider absolutely critical if we are to fix the postcode hospice system. It’s an appalling system that gifts some people world-class palliative care, while others who can’t access a hospice bed die in unimaginable pain and indignity, leaving lasting scars on their grieving families.

I realise I’m mixing up my funding models and that councils don’t fund hospices, but if they can spend that much money on a Begonia House then there are no limits. So let’s do the maths: The cost of running Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington is around $14m annually; the Government funds only half that - the rest is raised by street appeals, and fundraising efforts.

Just imagine what a difference $11m-$20m would make - the hospice could open its doors to every one who needs proper palliative care.

Or if not hospices - given that their underfunding is a central government disgrace not a local government problem - then what about a high-needs unit to house and look after Wellington’s homeless, a problem that only seems to be growing.

Or they could just spend that money on fixing the pipes, and shave a little off each of our rates bills.

When councils across the country are staring at eyewatering bills to fix basic infrastructure - the cost is billions and billions of dollars over the next decades - it’s easier to look at small one-off costs like the Begonia House and think that in the grand scheme of things it’s not going to make a difference. But it’s the accumulation of all these little things that is smashing ratepayers.

I’m not saying pull the Begonia House down, but maybe harness the community support and put its future in their hands.

Because the Begonia House debate sums up everything that is wrong with the local government funding model. The brutal reality is that WCC - like every local authority - simply doesn’t have enough money to do everything it wants to do, let alone needs to do.

But Mayor Tory Whanau, sensitive to the groundswell of public opinion against demolishing the Begonia House, has thrown her weight behind reversing that decision, and put up an amendment to save it.

Don’t blame Whanau; she is up for re-election this year and Begonia House protesters are also the sort of people who vote in local body elections.

So blame us.

Because that in a nutshell is how we got into this mess, with basic infrastructure maintenance appallingly neglected by a conga-line of mayors and councillors over the decades, while nice-to-haves were prioritised. And they were prioritised because of us, the ratepayers, who want councils to make pragmatic and sensible decisions about spending, but who also punish them when those decisions directly affect or challenge us.

I”m not letting WCC off the hook entirely here; every other business in recent years has made painful decisions about staffing and other internal spending. WCC has done little to tackle obvious areas of overspend like its outrageous spending on comms staff - there are around 50 of them at last count. That’s bigger than most newsrooms.

But the real problem is that we keep electing ‘afterpay’ councils; they make promises they don’t have the money to keep and when the bill comes due they send it to us.

We need to stop rewarding candidates who stand on ‘platforms’ that add up to expensive promises for which there is zero money.

As Jonathan Killick reports today, the chickens are coming home to roost.

In 10 years’ time, will you be able to afford your rates bill if it’s $200 or $300 a week? That’s not a pie-in-the-sky number; it’s based on the current rates trajectory. So the reality could be much worse.

Think before you vote.

What do you think? Email sundayletters@stuff.co.nz. Please include your full name and address.