It's the same reason why one of the country's most revered mayors in recent years, Dame Kerry Prendergast, lost her nine-year grip on the city's mayoralty to another unfathomable choice, Celia Wade-Brown.
It's not because both Whanau and Wade-Brown are Greens and it's not because both of them love cycleways, despite vocal ratepayer opposition to the amount of money being spent on Wellington cycleways.
It's because of the single transferrable voting system that saw them winning against all odds. It's the system where you vote for candidates on a preferential system, where once a quota's been reached for a candidate, they drop out and the votes for the second preference kicks in - and so on until a winner is found.
Celia Wade-Brown has finally made it to where Whanau would like to be, in Parliament for the weird and wacky Greens. Whanau may have blotted her copybook though, initially rejecting her previously held Green credentials until she won the mayoralty, and then embracing them afterwards.
This is the first citizen of the country's capital who lacks the intellectual rigor to remember what she said at the beginning of an interview, only to contradict it later. Whose understanding of governance is as deep as a puddle.
Who seeks forgiveness for doing a runner on paying for a restaurant meal because she has an alcohol problem, who clearly suffers from an attention deficit disorder and has had weeks off work because she's had Covid more times than Andrew Bayly's said he's sorry.
Is there any wonder then why Simeon Brown, a Cabinet Minister who looks young enough to be Whanau's son, has decided to lend her a helping hand with a Crown observer to watch over her?
Essentially the observer is Brown's nark. If the council under Whanau's stewardship is as shambolic as we're told it is, then the role will eventually be taken over by a Commissioner.
Even Brown tripped over his tongue in an interview by calling the observer a "Com...," before correcting himself, which is probably a good indication of where it will end up.
After the Government intervention, Whanau's response was to welcome it, saying she hopes the council will finally agree to the elusive long term plan for the troubled city.
But then the trolls got to work on her Instagram account telling her the decision was a disgraceful hit job and suggested the politicians behind it were corrupt and suggesting she hold tight until they're voted out of power.
Despite earlier saying she will happily work with the Crown observer, Whanau signalled she liked the damning comments on her account about one being appointed - that is, until the ghoulish media noticed them and suddenly the likes became un-likes.
And that's the inconsistency that's become the hallmark of Whanau's leadership. The cost of the observer overseeing the way the council operates - and comes at the expense of the long-suffering Wellington ratepayer.
But if this madness is allowed to continue, perhaps getting rid of the mayor will be a small price to pay.
Barry Soper is a New Zealand political journalist, and has been featured regularly on radio and television since the 1970s. Currently, Soper's main role is political editor at Newstalk ZB, a radio network in New Zealand.
17 comments:
Tory, or Mayor (For Now) is consistant in her inconsistency.
Labour whacked in a commissioner into Tauranga for much less disfunction so Simeon Brown may not have mispoken.
He may have in fact been giving the For Now mayor a heads up.
Whanau became Mayor the same way Adern became prime Minister, at the bequest of numbskull voters. Neither candidate had the iq or experience to run a country/city
Adern dieplayed her inadequacies, overseeing 3 years of abject government failure, before half of voters gave her their seal of approval.
I won't mention which gender voted in droves for both candidates.
The fact Celia Wade Brown and Tory Whanau are green has everything to do with becoming mayor because then they had the whole mainstream media behind them. Tory got double page spreads in the Post, extolling her personal qualities and unscientific polls run by Stuff designed to promote her. Her defects weren't mentioned. At the same time, her opponents were criticized.
After the election the media went a relentless campaign against Len Brown, while Tory's behaviour was covered up until it had become such common knowledge that the media needed to say something. Even when her alcohol and behavioral problems were reported, the media have supported her, repeating her bizarre excuses without question.
How did the Biden and the "demonrats" win the last election??
The earlier comment regarding ardern is spot on at every level. It’s sad to think however, that it’s the females predominantly making poor decisions when it comes to voting with intelligence. The greens have a lot to answer to in this country, so far, not one single ounce of any of it is positive, worthy, logical or truthful. Tory should never have been voted in( such is the problematic voting system ) and those that continue to back her, show their own ignorance in matters of the dysfunctional council, city, infrastructure, finances and future of poor Wellington!
I think Barry has maybe inadvertently highlighted what may be a fa bigger issue that first thought and not just with Wellington. At the last local elections we were in the midst of moving back to Northland from another area and so our possible voting here fell down the cracks. We were dismayed to see who we ended up with as Mayor in the Far North and wondered how the heck this happened. Seeing what Barry wrote had us looking at how many Councils have adopted STV after the 2022 changes that allowed it - Fifteen! that is 15. All is getting clearer! Particularly when talking with so many people up here who too wonder how we got landed with this chap. It would appear that many had no idea that they did not just have to tick one candidate but rank them. I would like to know just how many votes were basically nullified because they did not read or fully understand the voting instructions. I would posit that one group of people were fully briefed on how to vote. Now, there is nothing particularly wrong with proportional voting but it can end up with a lot of unintended/inadvertent consequences (or intended by Mahuta/McAnulty as is highly likely in this case since they love to mess with democracy). People used to the FPP system can easily fall foul of STV. I feel a letter to the local government minister may be brewing - how about a couple of million?
Whoever is responsible... the whole thing is still really hard to watch. Wellington was once a vibrant city and now the very fabric of the city is being torn apart by green ideology.
Since only around 40% of registered voters bother turning out to vote, no one candidate for Mayor can ever claim majority support, even after all the preferences have been redistributed. It's time the position of Mayor was decided by the elected Councillors from amongst their own numbers. After all, the Mayor is technically only the Chair of the meeting and unable to deliver on any election promises without majority support (even if their casting vote were applied, given that that vote is expected to be used to maintain the status quo). As Whanau has commented about the sale of the airport shares, her view is irrelevant if the council oppose it. So why keep up the pretence that the public need to vote for the position? Given the obvious public apathy, most folk simply don't care who occupies the Chair. And that strongly suggests they would never even notice if the voting rules were to be changed.
Students with no skin in the game who will unlikely be in the city the following election, get to vote and sway the numbers. This needs to stop
STV probably not a good system to have in a contest in which only a minority of electors actually vote. I grew up with it in Oz, but it's not straightforward. Lack of overall engagement, and understandable confusion on the part of those who do engage, is not a good mix. I don't have any particular view on TW, however, not being a Wellingtonian.
@ Anonymous 12:59 - Yes, a consideration is that only ratepayers can vote for councils since they left pick up the tab for the harebrained pet projects.
In response to Anonymous 9.09, Biden won the election because he won a majority of the votes. How hard is that to understand?Given that less than 50% of registered electors bothered to turn out in Wellington, Whanau can hardly make the same claim.
Please stop voting green or for anyone that looks ‘kind’. They actually do not have the best interests of the nation at heart. Running a country needs similar skills to running a business. Vote carefully.
There can be no question that Wellington is going backward. People need to wake up and realise this is the future of NZ, if the Greens and climate alarmists have their way.
My understanding is that none of the other candidates could command a clear majority because neither was wanted and Tory accumulated enough votes to win because of the unpopularity of the others. A vote for her was seen as a protest vote.
Please can we have a clearer definition of STV?
Greens got on many Councils around NZ due to STV voting
They have been smart enough to manipulate it to advantage
Look at Nelson,Dunedin,&Wellington who are 50% plus greenies
Muzza
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