Meetings paused as Wellington City Council tension soars

Thursday, 19 October 2023

Tensions at the Wellington City Council have reached the point that the deputy mayor is being ghosted by colleagues and the mayor has put a hold on meetings after “negative discussions”.

Mayor Tory Whanau on Monday emailed councillors telling them their regular Tuesday morning councillor-only meetings were going to be paused.

“I’ve received feedback from several people that they’re not overly productive for everyone and often lead to quite negative discussions,” she wrote in an email seen by The Post.

It came soon after another ruction in the council when details of a council meeting that was held behind closed doors were leaked to media. The leak showed the council was looking into buying land in an attempt to get the owners of the Reading Cinemas multiplex on Courtenay Place to strengthen the building, which has been abandoned since 2019.

This leak led to Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon laying a complaint, alleging a code of conduct breach against five councillors. Tony Randle, Ray Chung, Nicola Young and Diane Calvert all identified themselves last week. Iona Pannett is the fifth.

That complaint, which has now been leaked along with the terms of reference for an external inquiry by Dentons Kensington Swan partner Linda Clark, amounted to claims of leaking confidential information and talking about it to the media.

In some cases, such as Pannett, councillors were stating an opinion on information already leaked by others and published on The Post. In at least one other case, the complaints were about comments made in a public council meeting.

The council’s code of conduct says that, if a breach of the code is found to be accurate, councillors can be censured. If serious enough, the mayor can refer it to the council for further action.

Councillor Ray Chung said the council was in a state of “absolute dysfunction” and some of the named councillors were refusing to talk to Foon.

Nobody mentioned a complaint had been made or that an investigation was under way until the official documents arrived via email, he said.

Whanau was on Wednesday asked about the alleged dysfunction and what was being done to fix it.

“The council continues to deliver on its work programme and I remain focused on achieving good outcomes for the city and its citizens,” she said in an emailed statement.

“I am proud that the majority of councillors continue to be collaborative and contribute positively. We will continue to deliver on the strong mandate we were given last year, driving transformational change to ensure people and nature thrive.”

Calvert said she would still talk to Foon if she saw her. The allegations were purely political, she said.

“The current mayor doesn’t have the capability and doesn’t know how to exercise it,” she said when asked to rate the workings of this council compared to ones she sat on led by Justin Lester and Andy Foster.

The councillor-only meetings had been a forum for “free and frank” talks among councillors without staff there, she said.

Councillor Rebecca Matthews said this council was working much better than the previous one. “There is a minority of councillors who, I guess, don’t accept the outcome of our votes.”

Foon would not comment.