Ani O'Brien: Sewage, scrutiny, and the politics of accountability

Is it racist to be angry at elected representatives? Moa Point as a case study

When a city pumps tens of millions of litres of raw sewage into the sea day after day, the public is entitled to anger. There is human waste in the sea and on the shore, beaches are closed in peak season, businesses hammered, and ratepayers are wondering how their rates keep going up but the capital city can’t keep its basic infrastructure functioning. They are allowed to be proper mad.

And, when sh*t goes down, so to speak, people want answers and accountability. The equation becomes brutally simple. Something has gone wrong, someone must be responsible, and we want a solution.

Mike's Minute: Tory Whanau is the poster child for ineptitude

The Wellington mayor went out, not really in a blaze of glory yesterday, but more a fireball of misery and bitchiness.

Tory Whanau is probably the local body poster child for ineptitude. She's given her bye-bye speech.

She was a shambles. She may still be back, as she is standing in the Māori ward.

Matua Kahurangi: NZ Herald scrapes the barrel

Maurice Williamson’s mic slip from 2023 resurfaces as “breaking news”

Last week, the media couldn’t get enough of attacking Ray Chung. They dug up two-year-old emails like they were explosive revelations. This week, it’s Maurice Williamson in their firing line. The NZ Herald, clearly out of ideas and desperate for drama, ran a headline screaming “Exclusive: More explicit rumours about Tory Whanau – this time from Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson.”

Peter Dunne: National Prime Ministers seem to have a thing about Wellington.

In 2013 then Prime Minister John Key raised the ire of Wellington’s community and business leaders when he told an Auckland audience that the capital city was “dying” and that “we don't know how to turn it around.” He subsequently offered “an unreserved apology” to anyone his remark had offended, adding that “actually Wellington's an extremely vibrant place.”

Matua Kahurangi: Did National-aligned Councillor Nicola Young collude with Labour to take down Ray Chung?

A political hit job appears to be unfolding within Wellington City Council, and the fingerprints of dirty politics are all over it.

Two and a half years ago, first-term councillor Ray Chung sent a private email to three colleagues he considered long-time friends: Nicola Young, Tony Randle, and John Apanowicz. The email recounted a conversation with a constituent about alleged behaviour by Mayor Tory Whanau. It was never intended for public consumption, and it was sent to personal inboxes, not the media.

Kerre Woodham: You can't just put up a story without any proof

Ray Chung has surely scuppered his chances of becoming Wellington's next mayor, hasn't he?

Although, given the way voters in Wellington tend to cast their ballots given their previous form, perhaps not. Chung has sent an email to three of his fellow councillors with the heading ‘A sordid night on the town”, in which he proceeded to pass on a story he heard from a neighbour while out dog walking, trash talking Mayor Tory Whanau. It accused her of participating in an orgy with a couple of young men and taking drugs, and talked about the form of the woman involved, being Tory Whanau, having soft, pendulous breasts.

Matua Kahurangi: Wellington’s $2.3 million toilet

It should come as no surprise that under Mayor Tory Whanau, Wellington, the most woke city in New Zealand, has just spent $2.3 million on a public toilet block that doubles as a nightly light show.

Spending millions on five cubicles, ribbed timber cladding, designer architecture and $150,000 worth of LED lights? What the actual heck.

Peter Dunne: Wellington's mayoral election

There is an old saying doing the rounds in Rome at present as Cardinals gather to elect a successor to Pope Francis that "he who enters the conclave a Pope, leaves a Cardinal". While the warning has not always been borne out in recent Papal elections, it does have application more widely.

In the wake of this week’s announcements of Andrew Little’s candidacy for the Wellington Mayoralty and Mayor Tory Whanau’s subsequent withdrawal in his favour, there has been a general assumption that the Mayoralty is now Little’s for the taking, notwithstanding that there are other declared candidates in the race and still over five months until the election.

Mike’s Minute: Tory gave herself a 9/10, are you kidding me?

In her seemingly never-ending ability to surprise, Tory Whanau fronts on the local Newstalk ZB morning show in her beleaguered capital yesterday and scores herself a 9/10.

If she had come from comedy I could have seen the joke she was making.

But she doesn’t come from comedy, which is not to say her reign hasn’t been comedic.

Peter Dunne: Wellington's $400 million savings package

Wellington’s controversial and embattled Mayor Tory Whanau deserves some political credit for the content of the $400 million savings package she steered through her fractious Council this week.

With one or two exceptions - most notably the Botanic Gardens' iconic Begonia House which is threatened with demolition - many of the pet projects that have divided councillors for so long have been saved, at least for now. The Mayor has even managed to protect her beloved plan to pedestrianise the city’s famous Golden Mile from Courtenay Place to Lambton Quay, thus preserving at least some of her Green credentials. Earlier, she had declared her Golden Mile project sacrosanct, at the same time as she was calling on every other councillor to set aside their own personal wish lists as they grappled with the city’s mounting financial problems.

Barry Soper: How did Tory Whanau get the Wellington mayoralty?

If you have wondered how someone like Tory Whanau could win the mayoralty of our country's capital city, then wonder no more.

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.

David Farrar: A huge conflict of interest

Readers will be aware of how WCC set up an inquiry into allegations a Councillor had leaked information to the media about the proposed corporate welfare deal with Reading Cinemas.

Many months later it was revealed that the anonymous source who sparked the inquiry was Nadine Walker, the Chief of Staff to Tory Whanau (both are former Green Party staffers).

Dr Bryce Edwards: Kakariki Mayor Tory Whanau

The Green Party has officially changed its name, adding te reo alongside the English words so that they can now be called “The Greens Te Pāti Kākāriki”. The use of the term “kākāriki”, or “green”, might also be adopted by the party’s only city Mayor, Tory Whanau of Wellington.

This isn’t only because Whanau sells herself as an environmentalist, but also as “green” also means “inexperienced”, “naïve” or “lacking knowledge”. That’s what Mayor Whanau is being associated with at the moment in Wellington, after two years of poor leadership, and then giving four media interviews in the last week that have been highly embarrassing.

Mike's Minute: How much Tory is too much Tory?

So for what I think is the fourth time in a week, we hear from Tory Whanau.

This is a problem in itself because in the third interview, or possibly her fourth she has given, she reveals that originally she thought mayors flew below the radar.

David Farrar: A disastrous interview

The Post reports:

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has confirmed she did not sell her car to pay the bills before he office clarified that, in fact, she did.

So last week on radio she said she did sell her car to pay her bills. Then on Q+A she said she didn’t. Then after the interview her office put out a statement contradicting what she said on Q+A.

Dr Bryce Edwards: The Left split from Tory Whanau’s wayward Wellington City Council

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has gone from being the hero of the progressive left in Wellington to being seen as the cause of further dysfunction and chaos. And that’s just the view of people on her own political side.

The former Green Party Chief of Staff, who had turned into a corporate lobbyist, and then Mayor of Wellington, had a tough time during the first half of her term in power. But at least she was able to count on the support of the Green and Labour councillors, who pledged to vote for all her initiatives. This meant she had a working majority to get a limited number of things done.

Suze: NZ Muslims Are Yet to Object Publicly

It’s one and the same for fringe minorities seeking public affirmation through exploiting great chasms of tolerance embedded in our Christian-based law but the answer is not to adopt law changes instilling intolerance, but to nip the opportunists in the bud.

Trannies did it in public libraries up and down the country until Brian Tamaki recently cottoned onto their penchant for openly subjecting young children to flamboyant eroticism. He then campaigned against library events, successfully shutting down the Rotorua Public Library event after canvassing local support and threatening the Hastings City Council with the same.

KSK: The Choices We Make Are Our Responsibility

Personal responsibility: remember that quaint idea? It is positively Dickensian these days, when individual problems are made the responsibility of the country at large by way of various blunt instruments. The bottom line is that large numbers of our citizens accept no responsibility for their choices in their lives – it is always someone else’s fault and that someone had damned well better step up and fix it – with more money. And lots more money. And with no accountability required.

David Farrar: Mayor should focus on Wellington not Palestine

Stuff reports:

wellington mayor Tory Whanau is facing criticism for a social media post the NZ Jewish Council says uses code for the “annihilation of Israel”, but has the backing of another Jewish group.

Kate Hawkesby: Aucklanders count yourself lucky not to have Wellington's Mayor

For everyone in Auckland who bemoans our Mayor, and actually I’m not sure there are many of them left anymore or maybe they’ve just gone quiet, it could be worse. We could have Wellington’s Mayor. 

Now Tory Whanau has had her fair share of headlines and bad press since her arrival. There was the infamous “don’t you know who I am” alleged drunken incident at a Wellington restaurant, as well as leaving without paying the bill. 

She also made headlines back in June when she faced criticism for not attending meetings or events.