Three former Wellington mayors have delivered mixed verdicts on the Government’s decision to appoint a Crown Observer to help the troubled city council.
On Tuesday, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown wrote to Wellington City Council, with draft terms of reference for appointing a Crown Observer. Brown repeatedly cited official advice from the Department of Internal Affairs in making the move.
The move followed months of wrangling over the council’s long-term plan. A planned sale of the council’s ownership stake in Wellington Airport, pushed by Mayor Tory Whanau, was scuttled at the last minute following a vote by councillors earlier this month.
The three former mayors 1News spoke to all agreed Wellington’s best asset is its natural beauty, and are hopeful a Crown Observer might help improve the city’s political climate.
Former mayor Andy Foster, now a New Zealand First MP, said growing political division within the council had become problematic in recent years.
“When you see firm blocks on either side, that’s a real problem, because it means people aren’t thinking about what the other side is saying. There’s not as much give and take.”
He said the decision to put an observer in place was right.
“An observer is the right level because it still leaves the democratically-elected council in place – it still gives them a chance to fix things up.
“But it does say quite clearly, the Government is watching.”
The preceding mayor, Justin Lester, who now works in the private sector, said the “threshold for a Crown Observer was very, very high”.
Lester said: “Basically, the council needs to show that it’s either incredibly incompetent, i.e. can’t make decisions, and that’s not the case here.
“They are making decisions, they’ve just changed their mind.”
The former Labour-aligned mayor, who was beaten by Foster in 2019, attributed Wellington’s current challenges to decisions at both levels of government.
“It’s definitely a combination of both. Central government’s cutting back on staff … but then local government, they could be working better together as a group,” he said.
Green MP Celia Wade-Brown, who served as mayor during the John Key government, agreed Wellington’s challenges stemmed from both local and central government issues.
During her mayoral tenure, Wade-Brown said she had maintained workable relationships with the then-National government despite policy differences.
“We had a few disagreements about transport, that’s for sure, but they were cordial.”
She said it was vital the city now received investment.
“The appointment of the Crown Observer to look at funding options will help, but there’s no magic money,” the Green MP said.
“Central government has talked a lot about localism but we’ve not seen real support.”
