Wellington City Council backs down on airport legal advice – to an extent

Thursday, 20 June 2024

Left-leaning Wellington City councillors Nīkau Wi Neera, Nureddin Abdurahman and Ben McNulty have found themselves up against the city’s Green Mayor over the airport share sale.

The Wellington City Council has backed down on its information blockade about the airport share sale legal advice – but only to an extent.

The council had refused a request from councillor Ben McNulty, an opponent of the council selling its 34% stake in the airport, to see legal advice over the sale but in-house legal counsel Beth Keightley emailed councillors on Thursday afternoon with a change of tune.

“I can confirm that this [legal advice email] will be shared with councillors. We will arrange a time tomorrow for any councillor to read that email and ask any questions about it (or at any other time that is suitable).

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said he a was “appalled” by the Wellington City Council withholding advice from councillors.

“The email does contain legal advice, and we therefore ask that it not be publicly shared or disclosed at this time.” The legal advice was not shared earlier as the matter was being investigated by the auditor-general, she said.

The sale of the city’s 34% airport stake has divided the council even among traditional left and right factions. Many on the left dislike the sale because they oppose losing public assets but its loudest cheerleader is Mayor Tory Whanau, who wants the money from the sale to set up a fund to help the city after a big disaster.

The sale is included in her once-a-triennium long-term plan, which now runs the risk of being derailed with a near-majority looking to vote it down. The plan also includes a rates rise of about 18%, more money to fix the city’s ailing pipes, and serves as a blueprint for the next decade of council spending.

McNulty asked for the legal advice after he and other councillors alleged they were told, in a behind closed door workshop, that voting down the sale would put them at personal legal risk.

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has a split left-bloc after the airport fiasco.

He previously asked, under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA), for the legal advice this was based on. He was told by council chief strategy and governance officer Stephen McArthur that “no formal legal opinions were received on this issue”.

However, there were emails with legal advice between in-house lawyers and an external law firm about the upcoming vote. These could not be shared due to legal privilege, he said.

McNulty on Thursday said it was strange that the reason to withhold the information was originally to protect legal privilege. Now councillors were being told it was being withheld due to the auditor-general investigation.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown on Wednesday said he was “appalled” by Wellington City Council staff withholding information from elected councillors, which McNulty followed with an email to council staff asking if it would now release the information.

For councillor Nureddin Abdurahman, who filed the complaint asking the auditor-general to investigate the council’s handling of the share sale issue, Thursday’s email from Keightley was the first confirmation he had that his complaint was leading to an investigation.

He hoped that investigation would show councillors had lost faith in staff advice, and hopefully changes would follow.

Councillor Diane Calvert, who originally voted for the airport share sale but now planned to vote against the long-term plan because of alleged broken promises, said having councillors able to read the advice only in the room was another way of staff controlling advice to elected members.