February 27, 2025 • 33 mins
Competition for the top job in our biggest cities is heating up ahead of this year’s local body elections, with some potential candidates already causing a stir.
Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has confirmed she wants a second term although many people in the capital are wondering why, given her tumultuous entry to the world of local government.
In Auckland, Mayor Wayne Brown has said he is not done with fixing the city and also wants a second term.
And in Christchurch, Mayor Phil Mauger also wants another term in the city’s top job.
On this episode of On the Tiles - Local Edition, Georgina Campbell chats what is happening in the mayoral races.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Helder and welcome to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
This is a local edition episode, the first one of
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Georginie Campbell. It's going
to be a big year, of course, because we've got
local body elections coming up and mauror races are already
heating up in our biggest cities, which is what we're
(00:27):
going to be talking about today. Will be joined by
News talksy B journalist Ethan Minera and Wellington New Zealand
Herald Senior writer Simon Wilson in Auckland and News talksy
B journalist Blake Benny and christ Church. We also have
a new local government minister following a cabinet reshuffle. Local
Government New Zealand hold It's All of Local Government meeting
(00:48):
in Wellington this week, where Minister Simon Watts spoke. I
attended the conference and will bring you some highlights from
his speech at the end of this episode. But first
let's get to the mayoral races Wellington Meyor Tory Farno
started her week to this news.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Good morning at seven o'clock seventeen degrees in Wellington. I
Max Toll Wellington mayor Torri Farno admits it's been a
challenging time as new polling shows her approval rating Plummeting
Curia polling commissioned by the Taxpayers Union shows in her
first quarter as mayor, Faro had a positive approval rating
of four percent, but that's now dropped to minus forty two,
(01:26):
putting her among the lowest rated leaders in the country.
She says it's been tough for the council, but she'll
continue to fight to create the modern city she campaigned on.
In other major centers, christ Church Mayor film Major as
a positive one percent rating, Auckland's Wayne Brown is positive
fourteen percent, and.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This week, Tory Farno also pulled out of her monthly
slot on news taalkcb's local flagship radio show, Wellington Mornings.
Here's how host Nick Mills responded.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
While I respect her decision, I'm deeply disappointed for us,
for us as the people of Wellington that our mayor
doesn't want to front up to her constituents. Tory has
told me she will not be cutting the ties with
the show and will speak to you and I on
the show as needed. I did explain to her that
(02:16):
It's been a tradition for as many years as I
can remember that every willing to mayor had appeared on
this show as a regular spot until now, and I
am disappointed, No question was.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The b journalist Ethan Minira is now here was me
to discuss Tory Fano's bid for a second term and
the competition she's up against Kyoder. Ethan, thanks for coming
on the pod.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Thanks for having me, and.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You're a longtime listener, right yes, longtime fan. Love that,
longtime fan. First time guest. Why is Tory Fano running again?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Well, Tory Fanno's always said she wanted to run again.
She's been fairly consistent with that messaging. I mean she
even said as far back is the first election in
twenty twenty two that she wanted three terms as mayor.
I think it's just a case of she knows things
take a long time to happen in local government. She knows,
you know, the things she wants to do, like revitalizing
Courtney Place and investing in the water, they take a
(03:16):
long time to happen, and if she wants to see
the benefits of those things, she'll have to be around
for a while while they start to bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, and I think it is totally fair for any
politician being in local government or central government that they
want more than one term, because we only have three
year terms and stuff takes a long time, especially in
local government notoriously, so I don't think the Council can
sort of be credited with moving quickly on much. But
(03:43):
I think it is a really valid question just why
is she running again? Regardless of your politics, whether you
agree with them or not, just on a personal level,
it has been a tumultuous term for her and you
just of wonder why would anybody sort of want to
put themselves through that for a second time. And she
(04:07):
did waver towards the end of last year, Like she
was on news Zibe, well into mornings when Nick Mel's
the host, you know, asked her and as you say,
she's always sort of like, oh, yes, I'm running again, Definitely,
I want to do three terms and all the rest
of it. But at that point towards the end of
last year, she did sort of waiver, and she's sort
of paused and said that she needed to talk to
(04:29):
her friends and family, you know, and she has since
admitted that, Yeah, it was quite getting quite tough, and
she was seriously reconsidering whether she did want to run again.
But she's sort of come out swinging at the beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Of this year.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
She's done lots of media interviews sort of you know,
starting her campaign. Can you talk us through what's happening
with the Greens.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Yeah, so, I think it's important to say the distinction
is that last time she ran as an independent candidate
with the Green Party's endorsement. That means, you know, she
could go off and say sort of whatever things she wanted.
She could endorse policies that you know, the Green's probably
weren't aligned with, which she did for the you know,
the reading cinema deal and the airport. She is Saale,
but her value still aligned with the Green Party, and
the party acknowledged that. This time, she's sort of come
(05:12):
out swinging, saying that she wants to go whole hog.
She wants to be on the Green Party ticket. What
that will mean is she'll have she'll have access to
the Green Party's resources, the volunteers hitting the phones, people
door knocking, hitting the streets, and I assume she also
have some campaign funding as well. Currently, as it stands,
she's the only one in the Green Party's mural pool,
(05:32):
which gives the party's local branch three options. She could
either be endorsed if they choose to pick her as
their candidate, or they could not endorse a candidate at
all and leave it, or they could vote to reopen
nominations and look for another candidate. That decision is still
a couple weeks away as I understand it, but yeah,
she's the current only candidate in the pool.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And she has said I interviewed her about this. I
asked her, are you worried that you have fallen out
with some Green Party members to the point where they
will just not want to endorse you again. You know,
you mentioned the reading cinema deal and the airport shares sale,
and I think for some Green members, even though she
(06:13):
was an independent candidate endorsed by the Greens, that just
went too far. I mean, like the Greens are just
very opposed to asset sales. That's a really hot topic
for her to have kind of veered away from their
stance on that particular policy issue, and so she has
admitted that, Yeah, you know, she might have a little
bit of work to do in terms of talking to
(06:35):
those members and explaining why she made the decisions that
she did. And she has also said that you know,
she's spending more time with the Greens caucus down to
Parliament and just kind of rebuilding some of those relationships
because she has set you know, she upset her Green base.
She was elected on a Green platform, so sort of
(06:58):
getting back to her roots if you like. But her
house is running for the maural sheet, Like, what sort
of competition has she got.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, there's been a lot of speculation, but so far
the confirmed candidates for the murality are Toriy Faro as
well as Ray Chung, current city councilor Calvin Hasty. He's
a predator free champion he ran last time. I think
he placed six and then Graham Bloxam, who Wellingtonians will
know is the man behind the contentious local community facebook
(07:26):
page Wellington Live.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Not really any heavy hitters in my view in that list.
You know, there's not like a big name who I
think could really take her on as the incumbent and
if the Green Stow choose to have her on the ticket,
the resources that that would give her. Are there any
high profile names being floated as potential candidates.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of speculation, and I think
that's just down to, as you said, there hasn't been
a big ticket, headline grabbing name to come out, and
so that void has sort of been filled with lots
of rumor, lots of conjecture about who could be. Some
of the names that are floating around. Diane Calbot, she's
a current city councilor. She's run for me a previously
sort of a center right independent flavor, although she's quick
(08:10):
to say that you know, she's moderate and she used
to be a Labour Party member back in the day.
There's Johonna Panovich. He's a National Party member, a current
city councilor. He has been quite closely aligned with Varnoh
this term on issues like the Reading Deal and things
like that. Carl Tifan Barker, he's ran a number of
times in the past, twice for seats around the council.
(08:31):
He calls himself the ice cream Guy. He owns Cafe Ice,
a cafe down on Courtney Place. He's strongly opposed to
the Golden Mile redevelopment, and so that's an issue that
he'd definitely focus on. Would he run. Justin Lester sort
of floated his own name out there saying he wasn't
running but wouldn't rule it out. When he launched his
Wellington a Live Facebook page. It sounds like he's likely
(08:52):
not going to run maybe in the future. There are
some rooms. He also wants to be an MP, but
who knows. Mark Sainsbury he's another name, a big ticket
former broadcaster. He says he's not running, but he also
wouldn't rule it out. So yeah, lots of speculation and
lots of names sort of half and half out.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That actually sort of brings us full circle to where
we started in this conversation, where it's not just a
question of why would Tory Farno want to run again
given so many of her personal issues have been highlighted
in the media, but the city is in a really
difficult state, especially with historical under investment in infrastructure. I
(09:33):
think there is a sentiment of absolute frustration with the
council and Wellingtonians have lost faith in the council in
many respects. I think, so it's like, who, not just Tory,
but who House would actually want to be the mayor
of Wellington right now? Like it's a pretty tough gig.
I was thinking though in the next term, whoever is
the mayor would get to open the town hall in
(09:55):
the library, which will be really nice, like they've been
closed for years now due to earth quite strengthening. So
it's a couple of good things. So I don't know
if that's enough to persuade anybody to take on the job.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, and I can understand why Tory would want to
run again given those things. I remember in the last
campaign she talked about, you know, seeing the Meyor as
a spokesperson for the city, a champion for the city,
and so that sort of ribbon cutting stuff will be
right up her ali being able to celebrate new things
coming to the city.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Can we just do a quick vibe check on Wellington, like,
what do you think the election issues will be this year?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Oh, well, there's no shortage of issues in Wellington. I
suppose I think the big ones from this year it's
definitely rates. There's been a lot of frustration, as you said,
with the council and its financial management. Rates were a
really your tough issue for lots of households, and so
how the council or the Meyor manage the finances will
be a key topic as well as things like I
(10:49):
think the Golden Mile will be a big one. I
imagine there'll be some people running on ripping up the
Golden Mile, ripping up plans, and given the fact that yes,
the contract is signed for the intersection at the top
of the Golden Mile, there's still no guarantee that the
main body of work will have a contract signed by
the election. So there's a chance with someone to campaign
on stopping that work to provide you know, certainty for
(11:09):
the businesses along there. That'll be a big issue. I think,
you know, some younger people, the more urban planning transport
types will be voting on that and revitalizing the city,
and Tory will definitely be running on that. But others, businesses,
people who like to travel by car will definitely feel
strongly and want that gone. Water infrastructure, that's one that
(11:29):
Tory has said she's going to be campaigning on investing
in the pipes, giving money to Wellington Water and so
I think people will be frustrated with what the current
situation is and want to see some action there.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I just wanted to highlight something that you just said
for anybody who may have missed it, the Golden Mile project.
This is removing private vehicles from Courtney Place, widening the footpath,
putting a cycle away, and having rain gardens, having outdoor dining.
The council did a big announcement about this at the
beginning of the year. Turns out they've only signed the
contract for one intersection, not actually anything to do with
(12:04):
Courtney Place. So I found that pretty unbelievable actually, so
it'll be interesting to see whether they can get the
contract signed before local body elections. It's only been a
few years, but you know, as we say, nothing in
local government happens particularly quickly. Ethan Minia Newsporks, you've been
journalists based in Wellington, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Great thank you for heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Me Meanwhile in Auckland, meyor Wayne Brown is a waging
a war on road Cones.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Cones Central, Welcome to Coney Central. Here we have what
was formerly a nice clean two lanes to go up
to a very important intersection. Now, as you'll see, it
doesn't work like that. We've spent all this money.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
And nobody knows what is for.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Who's supposed to stand here?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Why is there a rise there? Is it for a bus?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Is it a cycle way?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
What's supposed to happen here. People are supposed to walk here.
It's got these walking things. Where does it go to?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
We're now joined by New Zealand Herald senior writer Simon
Wilson to talk about Auckland count Simon, thanks so much.
You're becoming quite the good friend of the podcast.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Oh thank you. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Wayne Brown wants a second term. What is his pitch?
Speaker 6 (13:15):
His pitch is fix Auckland. It has an exclamation mark
on it, and it's exactly the same pitch that he
used three years ago. Still to be what he's saying
is he wants to finish the job, which is kind
of what you'd expect him to say. I suppose you
can't finish a job like that. It's ongoing. Always never
be a time when we don't need a mayor or
(13:37):
city doesn't need fixing. But he's got things underway. He
says that he wants to see through bed in so
they can't be undone by others, is the line, and
therefore he wants a second term.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Are there any particular things that he has singled out
as wanting to see through?
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Well, what he's done is introduced reforms to the Council
Control organizations. Those are the organizations that sit at one
removed from the councilors themselves. They're guided by the council,
but they're not operationally run by the council. He wants
to in some cases bring that work into the main
(14:16):
council structure and another cases just give it a strongest steer.
So that's an important part. The policy has been adopted.
Council put all that through last year, but it won't
come into play until this year in stages, and so
he wants to see that happen. That would be his
(14:38):
critical one. The second one would be he has established
the Auckland Future Fund, which is a wealth fund for
long term planning for the city that's in its very
early days. It has income from shares from the airport
that was sold and he wants to build that. So
that's this kind of strategic approach. Understand Wellington has something similar.
(15:03):
And on top of that, Wayne Brown has adopted a
kind of I'm an outsider and I want to fix
all the nonsense. They're not listening to the people of Auckland,
they're not listening to me, and I want to get
that all fixed approach, which is exactly the approach he
had before he'd been there, so tho he's now been
(15:26):
the mayor, he's still adopting that kind of approach to
the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Did you see that video that he posted on social
media was an intersection that was being constructed somewhere in
Auckland with all of the road cones, and he was
sort of like, what is this road cone doing here?
And what's that meant to be? And what's that? And
this is just ridiculous. Like he seems to have put
out a few of those videos in the past year
or so.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
So he is busy on social media. He has a
team of people who are good at that. For him,
it is an extraordinary message that he's delivering. He stood
road cones was the kind of symbol of his campaign
last time. I'm going to clean the city up. No
more road cones or no more excess road cones. That
hasn't happened yet. There aren't any fewer now than there were,
(16:11):
except that Auckland Transport now does have a program to
reduce the number. But you can't really see it in
evidence yet, certainly not in the central city because there's
a lot of construction work going on. Construction work doesn't
need cones. In the case of that particular video that
he's posted, Brown is ranting against a project that involves
(16:35):
bringing in a more pedestrianized cross street in Auckland, Victoria Street.
It's called runs from one side of the Queen Street
Valley to the other. It's a major route. It's on
it's where the CRL is going to have a major station,
So it's going to be full of thousands more people
next to you when the CRL opens. And it's just
around the corner from the conference center, and the CRL
(16:58):
station is going to have an enormous new tower block
on top of it as well, so so many more
people there. What the council has done and said, here's
a road we will put the cars, here's a road
where will focus on the buses, and here's a road
that you'll still be able to drive through, but it
will be pedestrian focused. It will separate a cycle lane
from pedestrians. And that's a really important thing to do
(17:20):
because it means scooter riders won't be riding on the
foot paths, or at least they shouldn't be riding on
the footpaths now by SEP creating a separate cycle lane
for bikes and scooters. You solve one of the biggest
problems in the pedestrian area in Auckland. And Wayne Brown's
(17:40):
ranting about this project, calling it a waste of money.
He's calling for it to be delayed. He doesn't see
the point of it. He's saying, why they've done it
like this and this and this. Actually, beginning of last year, sorry,
beginning of twenty twenty three, he was the champion of
this project. He'd been elected on a platform of not
(18:02):
liking this kind of wasteful spending. He had a good
look at it, and he said, I've turned around. I've
changed my mind. This is a really good thing. I
live near here, I know it's really good. He called
it bloody good and damn good. And he even threatened
that any counselor who tried to delay it he would
come after them to within an inch of their life.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Yeah, I know he was such a fan. But he
is now saying this is a waste of money, and
it is extraordinary how he's turned around in his view.
I've asked him about this this morning. He says, no,
I still support the main project, but I don't support
the extra cyclewaybits, well, the extra cycleway bits, and that's
what he once stopped. It's not what he's reported as saying.
(18:44):
It's not what he says in that video. And also
the extra cyclewaybits that just runs a couple more blocks
have been done very cheaply, and the work has already finished.
And so I asked him, you want to call a
halt to a project where the work has already been done,
and he said, well, it's only been done this month.
But you know, these things don't make sense. You can
(19:06):
explain them either by thinking, well he just forgot what
he used to think, or maybe that's the answer, or
perhaps a better explanation is there are talking points here
for a base of voters that he's trying to rack up.
So getting angry about these kinds of things is just
something that I assume he is hoping will play well
for him in the election. It's not very Mayor.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Or It's good to have that context, Simon, because sitting
here in Wellington, I see his social media videos and
I find them so amusing, you know, like I was
laughing today watching that one is depicting me A Desley
Simpson won't roll out a bit for the mayor. She
this is certainly causing a stir. What's happening there? What's
(19:50):
the latest?
Speaker 6 (19:51):
It's really interesting. The Taxpayers Union outed her over Christmas
for having established a bought a website Desily for Mare
and she has said, oh, it was kind of Christmas fun.
My son said that up, blah blah blah. But since
then she hasn't ruled out standing, and that's causing a
(20:13):
lot of raised eyebrows, because if she wasn't going to stand,
she would have ruled it out by now. So it
seems reasonable to assume that she is looking at it
very seriously, and that as a ranking member of the
National Party with good connections, she will be talking long
and hard with them about what kind of organizational support
(20:34):
they might give her through the citizens, through the Communities
and Residents Association as their front in Auckland, and what
kind of financial support, what kind of organizational support, And
she'll be looking hard about whether she can stand. The
longest she goes on not announcing, I guess you'd have
(20:55):
to say, the more likely it is that she will stand.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
And has anyone else said they want this his top
job or is there any speculation like I remember a
while back there was speculation that Paula Bennett might be
putting her hat in the ring.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
So Paula Bennett is telling people not this time, okay.
And I think Simon Bridges, who is the CEO of
the Auckland Business Chamber, that's the old Chamber of Commerce,
he's also saying a similar kind of thing. So I
think probably what we're looking at there is the two
of them will have some kind of showdown for twenty
twenty eight, but not this year. And meanwhile, there are
(21:33):
a couple of other names that are in the ring.
One is Ted Johnson, who was a lawyer from South Auckland.
He stood last time, and he always used to say
it with Professo Collins. In the ring, everybody calls Afesso Collins.
The focus was on Affesso. Ted Johnson used to call
himself the other samoan in the competition. He's back for
another go. He did very poorly last time. He's a
(21:57):
kind of slightly angry man, let's put it that way.
And then there is Karen Leone. Karen Leoni is a
member of the Labor Party, one of several Labor Party councilors.
She represents the faux ward, which is based on the
Avondale area. She's not standing again for the ward. She
(22:19):
says she will stand for mayor. Her pictures that if
she's successful, she would be the first and mary woman
to be the mayor of Auckland, which is true. She
would be one of very few women who have been
the mayor of either Auckland City or any of its
predecessor councils. But she has a relatively low profile. She
(22:40):
hasn't had a distinguished or leading career as a councilor,
she doesn't chair any of the big committees, and she
would have to be regarded as a real outsider as well.
So at the moment, Wayne Brown's got it all going
for him. If Desley Simpson enters the race, then it
will be a real two horse race, and it might
(23:03):
also open up the possibility for someone on the center
left to stand thinking maybe Wayne Brown Desley Simpson would
split the vote on the center right and they'd have
a chance. But so far, no one has come up
with a big name for the center left.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And just quickly, Simon, to wrap up, can you list
what you think would be some of the top issues
for local body elections in Auckland this year.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
Well, Wayne Brown quite rightly says that he has kept
the rates rises here lower than in any other of
the major cities of the country. That is true, and
that I think you're going to find whoever stands that.
Every candidate will say I want to continue with that,
so that won't be contentious. But Wayne Brown has the
record of actually having done it. It's done it with
(23:50):
Desleey Simpson's support. Disney Simpson actually chairs a committee called
the Value for Money Committee on Council, which Wayne Brown
put out a statement recon they say, taking the credit
for many millions of dollars of savings they'd made in
the last few months. But actually it's her committee, not his,
So they say that points to the kind of antagonism
(24:12):
between the two of them that just simmers along there.
So low rates will be one the question of how
the inner city develops where Queen Street is on the
way back. But Queen Street has problems because like all
big cities everywhere, it's not back to full capacity, and
(24:32):
unless it gets a lot more apartments built, it's hard
to see how it's going to be as busy as
it might be. So that kind of program needs to
be looked at. And then there are resilience issues. Everybody
knows Auckland was terribly damaged by the Anniversary weekend flooding
and then cyclone Gabrielle. Nobody living in Auckland thinks that's
(24:54):
the one off that will never happen again. So the
city's preparedness for that and its ability to cope when
the disasters do strike. Now, people I think will be
looking for counselors and particularly for a mayor that they
believe is going to provide good leadership through that whole process.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Thank you so much, Simon, really appreciate that quick wrap
of what's happening in Auckland. Head of Local Body Elections.
Thanks so much for your time. As always, thank you, Georgia.
We're now going to take a quick break and we'll
be back with more on the tiles soon. We are
(25:47):
now joined by news Talk CYP christ Church journalist Blake
Benny to discuss what's happening down south. Film Major is
running again, isn't he? How would you summarize his first
term in the mayoralty.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
That's right, Pilm Major is running again, and actually, on reflection,
all things considered He's had a pretty successful first term
as mayor. Under his leadership, christ Church has progressed water
infrastructure projects, retained ownership of the city's three waters, and
upgraded the organics processing plant. The seat councils also settled
its eighty five million dollar insurance claim after a fire
at the Bromley wastewater treatment plant and confirmed a solution
(26:24):
to the stench that plagued much of the east of
the city.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
In saying that Major did make a few.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
Mistakes along the way, I think likely one of his
biggest errors during his term was having to bat track
on election promises around rate increases within christ Church. Pre election,
he had promised to cap increases to three percent a year,
and has since acknowledged he didn't do what he pledged
as that would mean a change to the level of
service that council provides, which he says he was unaware
(26:50):
of pre election.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yes, I think it would be pretty difficult for any
mayor to promise such low rates increases. What is he
promising this time around and has been for a second term.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
Part of his campaign is he's wanting to really just
continue on with where things are at in the city.
There's quite a lot of anchor projects which has been
completed over the coming months and years. The stadium, for example,
is on track to finish in April twenty twenty six.
Part of Cure Day, which is our state of the
arts sports center, is due to open by the year's end.
So a lot of those post earthquake anchor projects are
(27:26):
i in completion, which he is wanting to He says,
his work's not done.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
He wants to see those through. Another bid. Thing is
actually around the rates.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
He's wanting to keep things affordable and continue to invest
in ways that are climate friendly to the city.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Who else has put their hat in the ring? What's
this competition shaping up to be?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Like? Well, it's looking to actually be a bit of
a two horse rate at this point to be honest.
So heathcot Water City Councilor Sarah Templeton confirmed her bid
for the top.
Speaker 8 (27:51):
Job at the end of last year.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
She's a third term counselor and is likely best known
by locals for her supportive initiatives that reduce the city's
greenhouse gas emission, and as such holds the council's climate
change portfolio. Nationally, however, people will actually likely remember her
name from her successful mission to track down the man
responsible for misogynist trolling of herself and other left wing
female politicians in twenty twenty two, which, as you may recall,
(28:15):
resulted into Young Nats resigning after the courts identified their
home as the location of the harassment. What's really got
people in the Garden City talking though, is her intention
to really throw all her time and resource at a
mayoralty campaign, and is such isn't running for a fourth
term in her Heath cit seat come October, so it's
really an all or nothing approach from Templeton.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Oh interesting, I didn't know that, okay. And are there
any rumors about anybody else who may not be ruling
it in or out at the stage, or any speculation
about anyone who might be keen to be honest?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
Not a lot at this stage. Things are very very
hush hush and quiet.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
As you may recall in twenty twenty two, feel battled
former Canterbury District Health Board boss David the top job,
but there's been no chatter to indicate his eyn a
crack at a campaign this time around. So, as I say,
if no one else comes out of the woodwork, so
and it will just be a two horse race between
Film Major and Sarah Templeton.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Okay, and what do you think are the big election
issues for the city locally?
Speaker 8 (29:19):
I mean top of the list.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
And I'm sure this is nationwide as well, given you
know what we know of a state of our councilors
across the country. But rate in preases will absolutely be
top of the discussion. There's actually been a bit of
controversy in christ Church recently around this when the council
confirmed its draft and you'll plan so this year they've
reduced this year's proposed rates and priests to about seven
point five percent, but bumped next year's forecast from nine
(29:44):
to ten point four percent. This led to accusations from
one councilor that appears were less misleading the public and
cutting this year's rates was a short term hit to
favor counselors in the mayor for re election. So this
is likely that not just Film Major, but counselors all
around will face tough questions on this throughout their campaigns.
The other sort of problematic issues that council hopefuls are
(30:05):
likely to encounter is how they can navigate some sort
of future for the christ Church Cathedral. As we know,
restoration was paused last year amid a funding gap which
the government opted against filling. So to be frank, it's
actually a bit of a white elephant for the CBD
and the city's future. So discussion around next steps of
this is just bound to crop up throughout the campaign season.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Gosh, those rates increases ones Wellington could only dream of,
very quite low in comparison to the capitol.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
I mean contextually Canterbury is definitely in a better place
for rates than the capital. But you know, these are
still things that really impact the cost of living for
christ Church residents and really you know, the hot topics
that get people going at the moment.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Absolutely and look they are still pretty high. Blake, thank
you so much. I really appreciate your insights. Thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
New Local Government Minister Simon Waltz has spoke all of
Local Government meeting on Thursday. The main takeaway was that
he struck a very different tone to his predecessor, and
this was received well by mayors and counselors in the room.
You'll remember Simeon Brown and the Prime Minister didn't mince
words when they addressed the sector last year, blasting councils
(31:18):
for what they called wasteful spending. Minister Watt's talked about
upcoming water reforms.
Speaker 9 (31:24):
I can tell you what I know, the fatigue that
we've been through in terms of water reform over the
last period of time. And this is not political, but
it is a burden. I know you carry on your
shoulders and there is a real appetite to actually, let's
just move forward. Let's take a step forward, let's get
on with this process. And it's not going to be perfect,
it's not going to everything's going to be great, but
(31:45):
we've got to take a step forward and get on
that momentum and actually start moving into transition where there
are challenges and where councils are struggling. Then I encourage
you to put your hand up now.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
The Minister also voiced excitement about city and regional deals.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
I'm excited about that. I'm excited to work with you,
and I use the expressions we need to be sitting
at the table at the same level. This is not
as Prime Minister Office says, you know the parent child,
that's the old days, right. We need to be operating together.
We pay to our strengths. Sometimes my best strength is
getting out of your way, but in other instances, you know,
we need to think about some of the enablement that
(32:23):
I can do through legislation potentially, or through funding and financing,
or just actually bringing and facilitating the right stakeholders around
the table and other ministers as well.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Thanks for listening to this episode of On the Tiles
Local edition. You can follow On the Tiles on iHeartRadio
or wherever you get your podcasts, and for more local
politics head to enzidherld dot co dot NZID or pick
up your local paper. Thanks to my producer Ethan Sills
and our sound engineer Richard Martin, I'm Georgina Campbell and
(32:57):
On the Tiles. We'll be back next week.
Helder and welcome to On the Tiles, the Herald's politics podcast.
This is a local edition episode, the first one of
twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Georginie Campbell. It's going
to be a big year, of course, because we've got
local body elections coming up and mauror races are already
heating up in our biggest cities, which is what we're
(00:27):
going to be talking about today. Will be joined by
News talksy B journalist Ethan Minera and Wellington New Zealand
Herald Senior writer Simon Wilson in Auckland and News talksy
B journalist Blake Benny and christ Church. We also have
a new local government minister following a cabinet reshuffle. Local
Government New Zealand hold It's All of Local Government meeting
(00:48):
in Wellington this week, where Minister Simon Watts spoke. I
attended the conference and will bring you some highlights from
his speech at the end of this episode. But first
let's get to the mayoral races Wellington Meyor Tory Farno
started her week to this news.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Good morning at seven o'clock seventeen degrees in Wellington. I
Max Toll Wellington mayor Torri Farno admits it's been a
challenging time as new polling shows her approval rating Plummeting
Curia polling commissioned by the Taxpayers Union shows in her
first quarter as mayor, Faro had a positive approval rating
of four percent, but that's now dropped to minus forty two,
(01:26):
putting her among the lowest rated leaders in the country.
She says it's been tough for the council, but she'll
continue to fight to create the modern city she campaigned on.
In other major centers, christ Church Mayor film Major as
a positive one percent rating, Auckland's Wayne Brown is positive
fourteen percent, and.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
This week, Tory Farno also pulled out of her monthly
slot on news taalkcb's local flagship radio show, Wellington Mornings.
Here's how host Nick Mills responded.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
While I respect her decision, I'm deeply disappointed for us,
for us as the people of Wellington that our mayor
doesn't want to front up to her constituents. Tory has
told me she will not be cutting the ties with
the show and will speak to you and I on
the show as needed. I did explain to her that
(02:16):
It's been a tradition for as many years as I
can remember that every willing to mayor had appeared on
this show as a regular spot until now, and I
am disappointed, No question was.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
The b journalist Ethan Minira is now here was me
to discuss Tory Fano's bid for a second term and
the competition she's up against Kyoder. Ethan, thanks for coming
on the pod.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Thanks for having me, and.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
You're a longtime listener, right yes, longtime fan. Love that,
longtime fan. First time guest. Why is Tory Fano running again?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Well, Tory Fanno's always said she wanted to run again.
She's been fairly consistent with that messaging. I mean she
even said as far back is the first election in
twenty twenty two that she wanted three terms as mayor.
I think it's just a case of she knows things
take a long time to happen in local government. She knows,
you know, the things she wants to do, like revitalizing
Courtney Place and investing in the water, they take a
(03:16):
long time to happen, and if she wants to see
the benefits of those things, she'll have to be around
for a while while they start to bear fruit.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, and I think it is totally fair for any
politician being in local government or central government that they
want more than one term, because we only have three
year terms and stuff takes a long time, especially in
local government notoriously, so I don't think the Council can
sort of be credited with moving quickly on much. But
(03:43):
I think it is a really valid question just why
is she running again? Regardless of your politics, whether you
agree with them or not, just on a personal level,
it has been a tumultuous term for her and you
just of wonder why would anybody sort of want to
put themselves through that for a second time. And she
(04:07):
did waver towards the end of last year, Like she
was on news Zibe, well into mornings when Nick Mel's
the host, you know, asked her and as you say,
she's always sort of like, oh, yes, I'm running again, Definitely,
I want to do three terms and all the rest
of it. But at that point towards the end of
last year, she did sort of waiver, and she's sort
of paused and said that she needed to talk to
(04:29):
her friends and family, you know, and she has since
admitted that, Yeah, it was quite getting quite tough, and
she was seriously reconsidering whether she did want to run again.
But she's sort of come out swinging at the beginning.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Of this year.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
She's done lots of media interviews sort of you know,
starting her campaign. Can you talk us through what's happening
with the Greens.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Yeah, so, I think it's important to say the distinction
is that last time she ran as an independent candidate
with the Green Party's endorsement. That means, you know, she
could go off and say sort of whatever things she wanted.
She could endorse policies that you know, the Green's probably
weren't aligned with, which she did for the you know,
the reading cinema deal and the airport. She is Saale,
but her value still aligned with the Green Party, and
the party acknowledged that. This time, she's sort of come
(05:12):
out swinging, saying that she wants to go whole hog.
She wants to be on the Green Party ticket. What
that will mean is she'll have she'll have access to
the Green Party's resources, the volunteers hitting the phones, people
door knocking, hitting the streets, and I assume she also
have some campaign funding as well. Currently, as it stands,
she's the only one in the Green Party's mural pool,
(05:32):
which gives the party's local branch three options. She could
either be endorsed if they choose to pick her as
their candidate, or they could not endorse a candidate at
all and leave it, or they could vote to reopen
nominations and look for another candidate. That decision is still
a couple weeks away as I understand it, but yeah,
she's the current only candidate in the pool.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
And she has said I interviewed her about this. I
asked her, are you worried that you have fallen out
with some Green Party members to the point where they
will just not want to endorse you again. You know,
you mentioned the reading cinema deal and the airport shares sale,
and I think for some Green members, even though she
(06:13):
was an independent candidate endorsed by the Greens, that just
went too far. I mean, like the Greens are just
very opposed to asset sales. That's a really hot topic
for her to have kind of veered away from their
stance on that particular policy issue, and so she has
admitted that, Yeah, you know, she might have a little
bit of work to do in terms of talking to
(06:35):
those members and explaining why she made the decisions that
she did. And she has also said that you know,
she's spending more time with the Greens caucus down to
Parliament and just kind of rebuilding some of those relationships
because she has set you know, she upset her Green base.
She was elected on a Green platform, so sort of
(06:58):
getting back to her roots if you like. But her
house is running for the maural sheet, Like, what sort
of competition has she got.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
Well, there's been a lot of speculation, but so far
the confirmed candidates for the murality are Toriy Faro as
well as Ray Chung, current city councilor Calvin Hasty. He's
a predator free champion he ran last time. I think
he placed six and then Graham Bloxam, who Wellingtonians will
know is the man behind the contentious local community facebook
(07:26):
page Wellington Live.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Not really any heavy hitters in my view in that list.
You know, there's not like a big name who I
think could really take her on as the incumbent and
if the Green Stow choose to have her on the ticket,
the resources that that would give her. Are there any
high profile names being floated as potential candidates.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of speculation, and I think
that's just down to, as you said, there hasn't been
a big ticket, headline grabbing name to come out, and
so that void has sort of been filled with lots
of rumor, lots of conjecture about who could be. Some
of the names that are floating around. Diane Calbot, she's
a current city councilor. She's run for me a previously
sort of a center right independent flavor, although she's quick
(08:10):
to say that you know, she's moderate and she used
to be a Labour Party member back in the day.
There's Johonna Panovich. He's a National Party member, a current
city councilor. He has been quite closely aligned with Varnoh
this term on issues like the Reading Deal and things
like that. Carl Tifan Barker, he's ran a number of
times in the past, twice for seats around the council.
(08:31):
He calls himself the ice cream Guy. He owns Cafe Ice,
a cafe down on Courtney Place. He's strongly opposed to
the Golden Mile redevelopment, and so that's an issue that
he'd definitely focus on. Would he run. Justin Lester sort
of floated his own name out there saying he wasn't
running but wouldn't rule it out. When he launched his
Wellington a Live Facebook page. It sounds like he's likely
(08:52):
not going to run maybe in the future. There are
some rooms. He also wants to be an MP, but
who knows. Mark Sainsbury he's another name, a big ticket
former broadcaster. He says he's not running, but he also
wouldn't rule it out. So yeah, lots of speculation and
lots of names sort of half and half out.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That actually sort of brings us full circle to where
we started in this conversation, where it's not just a
question of why would Tory Farno want to run again
given so many of her personal issues have been highlighted
in the media, but the city is in a really
difficult state, especially with historical under investment in infrastructure. I
(09:33):
think there is a sentiment of absolute frustration with the
council and Wellingtonians have lost faith in the council in
many respects. I think, so it's like, who, not just Tory,
but who House would actually want to be the mayor
of Wellington right now? Like it's a pretty tough gig.
I was thinking though in the next term, whoever is
the mayor would get to open the town hall in
(09:55):
the library, which will be really nice, like they've been
closed for years now due to earth quite strengthening. So
it's a couple of good things. So I don't know
if that's enough to persuade anybody to take on the job.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, and I can understand why Tory would want to
run again given those things. I remember in the last
campaign she talked about, you know, seeing the Meyor as
a spokesperson for the city, a champion for the city,
and so that sort of ribbon cutting stuff will be
right up her ali being able to celebrate new things
coming to the city.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Can we just do a quick vibe check on Wellington, like,
what do you think the election issues will be this year?
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Oh, well, there's no shortage of issues in Wellington. I
suppose I think the big ones from this year it's
definitely rates. There's been a lot of frustration, as you said,
with the council and its financial management. Rates were a
really your tough issue for lots of households, and so
how the council or the Meyor manage the finances will
be a key topic as well as things like I
(10:49):
think the Golden Mile will be a big one. I
imagine there'll be some people running on ripping up the
Golden Mile, ripping up plans, and given the fact that yes,
the contract is signed for the intersection at the top
of the Golden Mile, there's still no guarantee that the
main body of work will have a contract signed by
the election. So there's a chance with someone to campaign
on stopping that work to provide you know, certainty for
(11:09):
the businesses along there. That'll be a big issue. I think,
you know, some younger people, the more urban planning transport
types will be voting on that and revitalizing the city,
and Tory will definitely be running on that. But others, businesses,
people who like to travel by car will definitely feel
strongly and want that gone. Water infrastructure, that's one that
(11:29):
Tory has said she's going to be campaigning on investing
in the pipes, giving money to Wellington Water and so
I think people will be frustrated with what the current
situation is and want to see some action there.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I just wanted to highlight something that you just said
for anybody who may have missed it, the Golden Mile project.
This is removing private vehicles from Courtney Place, widening the footpath,
putting a cycle away, and having rain gardens, having outdoor dining.
The council did a big announcement about this at the
beginning of the year. Turns out they've only signed the
contract for one intersection, not actually anything to do with
(12:04):
Courtney Place. So I found that pretty unbelievable actually, so
it'll be interesting to see whether they can get the
contract signed before local body elections. It's only been a
few years, but you know, as we say, nothing in
local government happens particularly quickly. Ethan Minia Newsporks, you've been
journalists based in Wellington, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Great thank you for heaven.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Me Meanwhile in Auckland, meyor Wayne Brown is a waging
a war on road Cones.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
Cones Central, Welcome to Coney Central. Here we have what
was formerly a nice clean two lanes to go up
to a very important intersection. Now, as you'll see, it
doesn't work like that. We've spent all this money.
Speaker 6 (12:43):
And nobody knows what is for.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
Who's supposed to stand here?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Why is there a rise there? Is it for a bus?
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Is it a cycle way?
Speaker 5 (12:51):
What's supposed to happen here. People are supposed to walk here.
It's got these walking things. Where does it go to?
Speaker 1 (12:58):
We're now joined by New Zealand Herald senior writer Simon
Wilson to talk about Auckland count Simon, thanks so much.
You're becoming quite the good friend of the podcast.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Oh thank you. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Wayne Brown wants a second term. What is his pitch?
Speaker 6 (13:15):
His pitch is fix Auckland. It has an exclamation mark
on it, and it's exactly the same pitch that he
used three years ago. Still to be what he's saying
is he wants to finish the job, which is kind
of what you'd expect him to say. I suppose you
can't finish a job like that. It's ongoing. Always never
be a time when we don't need a mayor or
(13:37):
city doesn't need fixing. But he's got things underway. He
says that he wants to see through bed in so
they can't be undone by others, is the line, and
therefore he wants a second term.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Are there any particular things that he has singled out
as wanting to see through?
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Well, what he's done is introduced reforms to the Council
Control organizations. Those are the organizations that sit at one
removed from the councilors themselves. They're guided by the council,
but they're not operationally run by the council. He wants
to in some cases bring that work into the main
(14:16):
council structure and another cases just give it a strongest steer.
So that's an important part. The policy has been adopted.
Council put all that through last year, but it won't
come into play until this year in stages, and so
he wants to see that happen. That would be his
(14:38):
critical one. The second one would be he has established
the Auckland Future Fund, which is a wealth fund for
long term planning for the city that's in its very
early days. It has income from shares from the airport
that was sold and he wants to build that. So
that's this kind of strategic approach. Understand Wellington has something similar.
(15:03):
And on top of that, Wayne Brown has adopted a
kind of I'm an outsider and I want to fix
all the nonsense. They're not listening to the people of Auckland,
they're not listening to me, and I want to get
that all fixed approach, which is exactly the approach he
had before he'd been there, so tho he's now been
(15:26):
the mayor, he's still adopting that kind of approach to
the whole thing.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Did you see that video that he posted on social
media was an intersection that was being constructed somewhere in
Auckland with all of the road cones, and he was
sort of like, what is this road cone doing here?
And what's that meant to be? And what's that? And
this is just ridiculous. Like he seems to have put
out a few of those videos in the past year
or so.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
So he is busy on social media. He has a
team of people who are good at that. For him,
it is an extraordinary message that he's delivering. He stood
road cones was the kind of symbol of his campaign
last time. I'm going to clean the city up. No
more road cones or no more excess road cones. That
hasn't happened yet. There aren't any fewer now than there were,
(16:11):
except that Auckland Transport now does have a program to
reduce the number. But you can't really see it in
evidence yet, certainly not in the central city because there's
a lot of construction work going on. Construction work doesn't
need cones. In the case of that particular video that
he's posted, Brown is ranting against a project that involves
(16:35):
bringing in a more pedestrianized cross street in Auckland, Victoria Street.
It's called runs from one side of the Queen Street
Valley to the other. It's a major route. It's on
it's where the CRL is going to have a major station,
So it's going to be full of thousands more people
next to you when the CRL opens. And it's just
around the corner from the conference center, and the CRL
(16:58):
station is going to have an enormous new tower block
on top of it as well, so so many more
people there. What the council has done and said, here's
a road we will put the cars, here's a road
where will focus on the buses, and here's a road
that you'll still be able to drive through, but it
will be pedestrian focused. It will separate a cycle lane
from pedestrians. And that's a really important thing to do
(17:20):
because it means scooter riders won't be riding on the
foot paths, or at least they shouldn't be riding on
the footpaths now by SEP creating a separate cycle lane
for bikes and scooters. You solve one of the biggest
problems in the pedestrian area in Auckland. And Wayne Brown's
(17:40):
ranting about this project, calling it a waste of money.
He's calling for it to be delayed. He doesn't see
the point of it. He's saying, why they've done it
like this and this and this. Actually, beginning of last year, sorry,
beginning of twenty twenty three, he was the champion of
this project. He'd been elected on a platform of not
(18:02):
liking this kind of wasteful spending. He had a good
look at it, and he said, I've turned around. I've
changed my mind. This is a really good thing. I
live near here, I know it's really good. He called
it bloody good and damn good. And he even threatened
that any counselor who tried to delay it he would
come after them to within an inch of their life.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Yeah, I know he was such a fan. But he
is now saying this is a waste of money, and
it is extraordinary how he's turned around in his view.
I've asked him about this this morning. He says, no,
I still support the main project, but I don't support
the extra cyclewaybits, well, the extra cycleway bits, and that's
what he once stopped. It's not what he's reported as saying.
(18:44):
It's not what he says in that video. And also
the extra cyclewaybits that just runs a couple more blocks
have been done very cheaply, and the work has already finished.
And so I asked him, you want to call a
halt to a project where the work has already been done,
and he said, well, it's only been done this month.
But you know, these things don't make sense. You can
(19:06):
explain them either by thinking, well he just forgot what
he used to think, or maybe that's the answer, or
perhaps a better explanation is there are talking points here
for a base of voters that he's trying to rack up.
So getting angry about these kinds of things is just
something that I assume he is hoping will play well
for him in the election. It's not very Mayor.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Or It's good to have that context, Simon, because sitting
here in Wellington, I see his social media videos and
I find them so amusing, you know, like I was
laughing today watching that one is depicting me A Desley
Simpson won't roll out a bit for the mayor. She
this is certainly causing a stir. What's happening there? What's
(19:50):
the latest?
Speaker 6 (19:51):
It's really interesting. The Taxpayers Union outed her over Christmas
for having established a bought a website Desily for Mare
and she has said, oh, it was kind of Christmas fun.
My son said that up, blah blah blah. But since
then she hasn't ruled out standing, and that's causing a
(20:13):
lot of raised eyebrows, because if she wasn't going to stand,
she would have ruled it out by now. So it
seems reasonable to assume that she is looking at it
very seriously, and that as a ranking member of the
National Party with good connections, she will be talking long
and hard with them about what kind of organizational support
(20:34):
they might give her through the citizens, through the Communities
and Residents Association as their front in Auckland, and what
kind of financial support, what kind of organizational support, And
she'll be looking hard about whether she can stand. The
longest she goes on not announcing, I guess you'd have
(20:55):
to say, the more likely it is that she will stand.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
And has anyone else said they want this his top
job or is there any speculation like I remember a
while back there was speculation that Paula Bennett might be
putting her hat in the ring.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
So Paula Bennett is telling people not this time, okay.
And I think Simon Bridges, who is the CEO of
the Auckland Business Chamber, that's the old Chamber of Commerce,
he's also saying a similar kind of thing. So I
think probably what we're looking at there is the two
of them will have some kind of showdown for twenty
twenty eight, but not this year. And meanwhile, there are
(21:33):
a couple of other names that are in the ring.
One is Ted Johnson, who was a lawyer from South Auckland.
He stood last time, and he always used to say
it with Professo Collins. In the ring, everybody calls Afesso Collins.
The focus was on Affesso. Ted Johnson used to call
himself the other samoan in the competition. He's back for
another go. He did very poorly last time. He's a
(21:57):
kind of slightly angry man, let's put it that way.
And then there is Karen Leone. Karen Leoni is a
member of the Labor Party, one of several Labor Party councilors.
She represents the faux ward, which is based on the
Avondale area. She's not standing again for the ward. She
(22:19):
says she will stand for mayor. Her pictures that if
she's successful, she would be the first and mary woman
to be the mayor of Auckland, which is true. She
would be one of very few women who have been
the mayor of either Auckland City or any of its
predecessor councils. But she has a relatively low profile. She
(22:40):
hasn't had a distinguished or leading career as a councilor,
she doesn't chair any of the big committees, and she
would have to be regarded as a real outsider as well.
So at the moment, Wayne Brown's got it all going
for him. If Desley Simpson enters the race, then it
will be a real two horse race, and it might
(23:03):
also open up the possibility for someone on the center
left to stand thinking maybe Wayne Brown Desley Simpson would
split the vote on the center right and they'd have
a chance. But so far, no one has come up
with a big name for the center left.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And just quickly, Simon, to wrap up, can you list
what you think would be some of the top issues
for local body elections in Auckland this year.
Speaker 6 (23:27):
Well, Wayne Brown quite rightly says that he has kept
the rates rises here lower than in any other of
the major cities of the country. That is true, and
that I think you're going to find whoever stands that.
Every candidate will say I want to continue with that,
so that won't be contentious. But Wayne Brown has the
record of actually having done it. It's done it with
(23:50):
Desleey Simpson's support. Disney Simpson actually chairs a committee called
the Value for Money Committee on Council, which Wayne Brown
put out a statement recon they say, taking the credit
for many millions of dollars of savings they'd made in
the last few months. But actually it's her committee, not his,
So they say that points to the kind of antagonism
(24:12):
between the two of them that just simmers along there.
So low rates will be one the question of how
the inner city develops where Queen Street is on the
way back. But Queen Street has problems because like all
big cities everywhere, it's not back to full capacity, and
(24:32):
unless it gets a lot more apartments built, it's hard
to see how it's going to be as busy as
it might be. So that kind of program needs to
be looked at. And then there are resilience issues. Everybody
knows Auckland was terribly damaged by the Anniversary weekend flooding
and then cyclone Gabrielle. Nobody living in Auckland thinks that's
(24:54):
the one off that will never happen again. So the
city's preparedness for that and its ability to cope when
the disasters do strike. Now, people I think will be
looking for counselors and particularly for a mayor that they
believe is going to provide good leadership through that whole process.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Thank you so much, Simon, really appreciate that quick wrap
of what's happening in Auckland. Head of Local Body Elections.
Thanks so much for your time. As always, thank you, Georgia.
We're now going to take a quick break and we'll
be back with more on the tiles soon. We are
(25:47):
now joined by news Talk CYP christ Church journalist Blake
Benny to discuss what's happening down south. Film Major is
running again, isn't he? How would you summarize his first
term in the mayoralty.
Speaker 7 (26:01):
That's right, Pilm Major is running again, and actually, on reflection,
all things considered He's had a pretty successful first term
as mayor. Under his leadership, christ Church has progressed water
infrastructure projects, retained ownership of the city's three waters, and
upgraded the organics processing plant. The seat councils also settled
its eighty five million dollar insurance claim after a fire
at the Bromley wastewater treatment plant and confirmed a solution
(26:24):
to the stench that plagued much of the east of
the city.
Speaker 8 (26:28):
In saying that Major did make a few.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
Mistakes along the way, I think likely one of his
biggest errors during his term was having to bat track
on election promises around rate increases within christ Church. Pre election,
he had promised to cap increases to three percent a year,
and has since acknowledged he didn't do what he pledged
as that would mean a change to the level of
service that council provides, which he says he was unaware
(26:50):
of pre election.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
Yes, I think it would be pretty difficult for any
mayor to promise such low rates increases. What is he
promising this time around and has been for a second term.
Speaker 7 (27:03):
Part of his campaign is he's wanting to really just
continue on with where things are at in the city.
There's quite a lot of anchor projects which has been
completed over the coming months and years. The stadium, for example,
is on track to finish in April twenty twenty six.
Part of Cure Day, which is our state of the
arts sports center, is due to open by the year's end.
So a lot of those post earthquake anchor projects are
(27:26):
i in completion, which he is wanting to He says,
his work's not done.
Speaker 8 (27:29):
He wants to see those through. Another bid. Thing is
actually around the rates.
Speaker 7 (27:33):
He's wanting to keep things affordable and continue to invest
in ways that are climate friendly to the city.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Who else has put their hat in the ring? What's
this competition shaping up to be?
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Like? Well, it's looking to actually be a bit of
a two horse rate at this point to be honest.
So heathcot Water City Councilor Sarah Templeton confirmed her bid
for the top.
Speaker 8 (27:51):
Job at the end of last year.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
She's a third term counselor and is likely best known
by locals for her supportive initiatives that reduce the city's
greenhouse gas emission, and as such holds the council's climate
change portfolio. Nationally, however, people will actually likely remember her
name from her successful mission to track down the man
responsible for misogynist trolling of herself and other left wing
female politicians in twenty twenty two, which, as you may recall,
(28:15):
resulted into Young Nats resigning after the courts identified their
home as the location of the harassment. What's really got
people in the Garden City talking though, is her intention
to really throw all her time and resource at a
mayoralty campaign, and is such isn't running for a fourth
term in her Heath cit seat come October, so it's
really an all or nothing approach from Templeton.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Oh interesting, I didn't know that, okay. And are there
any rumors about anybody else who may not be ruling
it in or out at the stage, or any speculation
about anyone who might be keen to be honest?
Speaker 8 (28:51):
Not a lot at this stage. Things are very very
hush hush and quiet.
Speaker 7 (28:54):
As you may recall in twenty twenty two, feel battled
former Canterbury District Health Board boss David the top job,
but there's been no chatter to indicate his eyn a
crack at a campaign this time around. So, as I say,
if no one else comes out of the woodwork, so
and it will just be a two horse race between
Film Major and Sarah Templeton.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Okay, and what do you think are the big election
issues for the city locally?
Speaker 8 (29:19):
I mean top of the list.
Speaker 7 (29:21):
And I'm sure this is nationwide as well, given you
know what we know of a state of our councilors
across the country. But rate in preases will absolutely be
top of the discussion. There's actually been a bit of
controversy in christ Church recently around this when the council
confirmed its draft and you'll plan so this year they've
reduced this year's proposed rates and priests to about seven
point five percent, but bumped next year's forecast from nine
(29:44):
to ten point four percent. This led to accusations from
one councilor that appears were less misleading the public and
cutting this year's rates was a short term hit to
favor counselors in the mayor for re election. So this
is likely that not just Film Major, but counselors all
around will face tough questions on this throughout their campaigns.
The other sort of problematic issues that council hopefuls are
(30:05):
likely to encounter is how they can navigate some sort
of future for the christ Church Cathedral. As we know,
restoration was paused last year amid a funding gap which
the government opted against filling. So to be frank, it's
actually a bit of a white elephant for the CBD
and the city's future. So discussion around next steps of
this is just bound to crop up throughout the campaign season.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
Gosh, those rates increases ones Wellington could only dream of,
very quite low in comparison to the capitol.
Speaker 7 (30:35):
I mean contextually Canterbury is definitely in a better place
for rates than the capital. But you know, these are
still things that really impact the cost of living for
christ Church residents and really you know, the hot topics
that get people going at the moment.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Absolutely and look they are still pretty high. Blake, thank
you so much. I really appreciate your insights. Thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 8 (30:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
New Local Government Minister Simon Waltz has spoke all of
Local Government meeting on Thursday. The main takeaway was that
he struck a very different tone to his predecessor, and
this was received well by mayors and counselors in the room.
You'll remember Simeon Brown and the Prime Minister didn't mince
words when they addressed the sector last year, blasting councils
(31:18):
for what they called wasteful spending. Minister Watt's talked about
upcoming water reforms.
Speaker 9 (31:24):
I can tell you what I know, the fatigue that
we've been through in terms of water reform over the
last period of time. And this is not political, but
it is a burden. I know you carry on your
shoulders and there is a real appetite to actually, let's
just move forward. Let's take a step forward, let's get
on with this process. And it's not going to be perfect,
it's not going to everything's going to be great, but
(31:45):
we've got to take a step forward and get on
that momentum and actually start moving into transition where there
are challenges and where councils are struggling. Then I encourage
you to put your hand up now.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
The Minister also voiced excitement about city and regional deals.
Speaker 9 (32:02):
I'm excited about that. I'm excited to work with you,
and I use the expressions we need to be sitting
at the table at the same level. This is not
as Prime Minister Office says, you know the parent child,
that's the old days, right. We need to be operating together.
We pay to our strengths. Sometimes my best strength is
getting out of your way, but in other instances, you know,
we need to think about some of the enablement that
(32:23):
I can do through legislation potentially, or through funding and financing,
or just actually bringing and facilitating the right stakeholders around
the table and other ministers as well.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Thanks for listening to this episode of On the Tiles
Local edition. You can follow On the Tiles on iHeartRadio
or wherever you get your podcasts, and for more local
politics head to enzidherld dot co dot NZID or pick
up your local paper. Thanks to my producer Ethan Sills
and our sound engineer Richard Martin, I'm Georgina Campbell and
(32:57):
On the Tiles. We'll be back next week.
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