War of words over regional deals after PM labels Wellington councils Lame-o

Tuesday, 11 March 2025

Christopher Luxon characterised Wellington’s failure to put in a bid as “pretty lame-o”.

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau says Wellington councils are not going to “waste” their time chasing the “mirage” of a short term regional deal and will seek one on their own terms and in their own time.

Whanau on Tuesday shot back at Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who labelled the region’s leaders as “lame-o” after they did not meet the deadline for a regional deal.

“Those comments are pretty poor form for the leader of our country,” Whanau said, before outlining details of a meeting with Crown observer Lindsay McKenzie, in which he had noted that the Department of Internal Affairs understood that the Wellington region’s current priority was water reform.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has shot back after PM’s ‘lame-o’ jibe.

“As such there was not an expectation for DIA in receiving a regional deals application from Wellington in this round.”

“In this first round of applications, it was likely the Government would be focused on high growth councils for early funding and that Wellington would be unlikely to meet this criteria,” she said.

The region was working towards a “comprehensive and meaningful regional deal” and was determined to get it right, she said.

Councils were invited to submit bids by February 28 for the 10-year agreements to unlock funding tools for new infrastructure. Five regions will be selected in May to put forward high-level proposals.

The councils will be 'at the back of the queue' in the next round, says Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy.

Wellington-based senior ministers Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop characterised the failure as “embarrassing” and an example of the councils’ dysfunction, while even Opposition leader Chris Hipkins, a Wellington resident, said the councils needed to get their act together.

Daran Ponter, Greater Wellington Regional Council chair and deputy chair of Wellington Regional Leadership Committee, defended the councils’ decision not to propose anything, saying they needed more time to put forward something “comprehensive”, while Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy described a “disaster” behind the scenes.

‘It was a disaster from then on’

Guppy said he agreed with Luxon’s comments.

While councils had started out in agreement ‒ he was particularly keen to have one big infrastructure project ‒ “then, of course, what happened was, we finished up with about 30 projects. It was going nowhere, and trying to redefine what the government criteria said.'

He said the region 'desperately needs' new water storage facilities.

'The others agreed with that but then wanted to put their own projects in. It was a disaster from there on. I said: the Government have given you criteria, don't redefine it.

'When you start getting hijacked by ideologies, you know, you're not going to go anywhere.'

Local Government Minister Simon Watts was informed in late February that Wellington wouldn’t be making a proposal.

Guppy said the councils will be 'at the back of the queue' in the next round.

'Not putting one in is sending a bad message to the Government and the people of Wellington. I don't think there is any choice [to bid in the second round].

“The population of Wellington will be as disappointed as the Government and they will be saying to their councillors, get your act together. Why aren't we part of this?'

Ponter defends non proposal

Ponter said councils had “decided that [they want] to take more time to bring forward a comprehensive regional development proposal, as opposed to the short-form regional deals paperwork proposed by the Government”.

The decision was “deliberate” and the Local Government Minister had been informed on February 21.

“This decision was partially informed by an awareness that regions are effectively in competition for very scarce funding ‒ indeed ministers have previously been at pains to signal that there is little to no funding available in the regional deals funding lot.

“It is also unclear at this stage how much commitment the Government will give to regional deals as a whole. A more solid proposal allows this region to better stand behind its development proposals for the medium to long-term rather than just meeting the immediate needs of the Government.

“In the coming months, the WRLC will identify the best transformational partnership with central government in order to deliver resilient infrastructure, quality affordable housing and economic growth. This could even venture into the future shape of local government in the Wellington Region.”

The group had invited Watts and Bishop to meet with its members “to better understand its current programme of work and the opportunities for central government to be an active partner”.

Daran Ponter, far right, said it was a deliberate decision not to submit a proposal. Pictured L-R: Campbell Barry, Chris Bishop and Daran Ponter.

Hutt City mayor Campbell Barry is stranded in Australia after the cyclone and did not respond to requests for comment.

But Porirua mayor Anita Baker said Luxon’s comments were “a bit rich”.

Baker said Wellington councils had been focused on water rather than a regional deal but would look at applying in the next round.

Some councils were 'more ready than others'. Luxon's “lame-o” comment was a 'bit rich coming from a government under-funding us'.

PM lashes Wellington: ‘Every other region has been able to do it’

Wellington-based senior ministers Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop characterised the failure as “embarrassing”.

Earlier on Tuesday, Luxon took Wellington’s leaders to task.

“Here we have a Government doing everything it can to make sure we attract capital for this country, which has been a problem for a long period of time, and you can't even get Wellington… to submit a regional or a city deal.

“Every other region's been able to come together, work together for the last six months, Wellington hasn’t even shown up with [a] proposal. That’s a real disappointment, I’d say, to the people, the ratepayers, of Wellington [that] their leaders … can’t even come together on a regional deal.”

Nicola Willis said ratepayers should take their concerns to the polls.

While a Crown observer was placed at Wellington City Council last year, by former Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, Luxon stopped short when asked if it was time for a commissioner to be installed.

“These are decisions for the people of Wellington to make. This is a democracy, they have chosen this as their elected representatives, if you don’t vote in local government elections, and a large number of people don’t seem to across the country, you get what you deserve.”

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said, “It’s just embarrassing. I just shake my head because I want to be a proud Wellingtonian and when our civic leaders can’t even get together to say, what are the investments Wellingtonians want, it’s a dereliction of duty, it’s a dereliction of leadership.

“Ratepayers need to judge their leaders accordingly. If just about every other region in the country could recognise that the opportunity to partner with Government to deliver local infrastructure and local growth was worth putting aside the bickering for, why couldn’t Wellington? That’s on elected representatives and ratepayers should send them a message at the polls.”

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said 18 different proposals had been made by deadline.

“A lot of councils are getting together, putting their best foot forward,” he said. “If you take Waikato, for example, I think from memory, there are 13 or 14 different councils that have clubbed together and have put forward a proposal in the Waikato region. So my question is, if Waikato can do it with a larger number of councils than the Wellington region, why can’t Wellington do it?”

Bishop said the regional deals were an opportunity “to map out a direction of travel” for the next few decades “and really get central government and local government aligned on what the region is going to need, in terms of transport and infrastructure, but also housing, so I think Wellington has missed out on an opportunity to do that”.

“As I understand it, they basically couldn’t agree, and I just think it’s reflective of where the Wellington region is at, where there's a lot of disagreement, not a lot of working together. It’s pretty disappointing. A lot of other councils around the country have really put their best foot forward. They’re working together really collaboratively and collegially. Its just more of the same from Wellington.”

Local Government Minister Simon Watts said Wellington had “expressed a strong interest” in taking part in the future and that the programme was a long term one. “I look forward to receiving a proposal from them in the future.”

Hipkins said Wellington councils needed to “get their act together”. “They need to be showing they can work together, they need to be dealing with issues facing the region as a whole.

“If Wellington councils don’t work constructively together, Wellington will be left behind … it’s really important that those local councils actually sort themselves out.”