Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills on Tory Whanau's Mayoral tenure

Well, one more day as Mayor for Tory Whanau – the “accidental mayor,” as many have called her – and just like that, her chapter in Wellington politics closes. 

What a ride, and what a mess. And, let’s be honest, what a disappointment.

From the very beginning, Tory framed her leadership through a lens of identity – “poor me, give me a break, I’m a woman, and I’m new.” 

That became her shield, her excuse, and, in many ways, the story of her mayoralty.

When she campaigned, it was all about team building, collaboration, bringing the city together behind a shared vision. It sounded good. It sounded hopeful. 

But in reality? It never happened.

She surrounded herself with sycophants - people who told her what she wanted to hear, not what she needed to hear.

Around the council table, she isolated herself, cut off critics, and created a bunker mentality. That’s fatal for a city that needed leadership more than ever.

Now to be fair, and I want to be fair, Tory didn’t have an easy ride. 

She came in at the worst possible time: cost-of-living pressures, broken pipes, crumbling infrastructure, council debt spiralling out of control.

Whoever wore the chain was going to struggle. But that doesn’t excuse the way she handled it.

Time and again, she ran from the hard stuff.

She ducked responsibility. She even abandoned her monthly commitment on Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings – not because she lacked the time, but because she was advised not to face the heat.

That’s not leadership. That’s avoidance.

Wellington paid the price. Instead of a steady hand, we got chaos. 

Instead of strong decision-making, we got excuses. Instead of a mayor who could rally councillors and the public, we got someone who shrank from scrutiny.

And then, in her final council speech on Wednesday , we got the encore: the blame game.

Whanau used her last act in office to highlight the abuse she’s faced – and yes, some of it was vile, unacceptable, and personal.

She cited lewd rumours, online harassment, and sexist behaviour from councillors like Ray Chung.  She demanded change to fix what she called a toxic council culture.

"To those who created those challenges, thank you. Whether it was members around this very table feeding defamatory rumours to the media, whether it was some media reporting on defamatory rumours as fact, whether it was better Wellington harassing our elected members, or members of Vision for Wellington lobbying government for intervention, even though they were supposedly apolitical," Whanau said.

"Whether it's previous mayors or elected members who criticised this council for high rates, even though it was their decisions and underinvestment who caused them, leaving us to pick up the bill.” She said.

Fair enough. Abuse and misogyny in politics must be called out.

No one should face that.

But here’s the thing: while Tory was naming names and pointing fingers, Wellington was still left with broken pipes, spiralling rates, and a city in crisis. Cycleways in places we did not want or need, that’s the part that never got fixed.

She tried. She gave it a go.

But giving it a go isn’t enough when you’re in charge of a capital city. We needed toughness, vision, competence. We got hype, we got controversy, and we got a legacy that will be remembered for what it didn’t deliver.

So today, Wellington turns the page.

Tory Whanau came, she stumbled, and she left. The “accidental mayor” is no longer.

And the question now is simple: who’s going to pick up the pieces and finally give this city the leadership it’s been crying out for?

There's no doubt that she, and other female politicians are dealing with an unjust abuse. But she still had to power through and she had to be a leader.

And I don't think she did that successfully.

I wish Tory Whanau all the best, I enjoyed our conversations but I am disappointed she took advice not to communicate to our city.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks ad B.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
This one more day as mayor for Torri Faro, the
accidental Mayor, as many have called her, and just like that,
her chapter in Wellington politics closes. What a ride, what
a mess, and let's be honest, what a disappointment. From

(00:38):
the very beginning, Tory framed her leadership through a lens
of identity. Poor me, give me a break. I'm a woman,
I'm new. That became her shield, her excuse, and in
many ways, the story of her mayoralty. When she campaigned,

(01:01):
it was all about building a team, collaboration, bring in
the city together, a shared vision. It all sounded good,
it sounded hopeful, but in reality it never happened. She
surrounded herself with siperphanks yes, people who told her what

(01:24):
she wanted to hear, not what she needed to hear.
Around the council table, she isolated herself. She cut off
critics and created a bunker mentality that is fatal for
a city that needed leadership more than ever. Now. I

(01:44):
want to be fair, let's be really fair. Tory didn't
have an easy ride. She came in at the worst
possible time, a cost of living pressures, cost of living crisis,
even broken pipes, crumbling infrastructure, council debt spiraling out of control.
Whoever wore the chains was going to struggle. But that

(02:09):
doesn't excuse the way she handled it. Time and time again,
she ran from the hard stuff. She ducked responsibility. She
even abandoned her monthly commitment on this very show, not
because she lacked the time, because she was advised not

(02:32):
to face the heat. That's not leadership, that's avoidance. And Wellington,
we paid the price of Instead of a steady hand,
we got chaos. Instead of strong decision making, we got excuses.
Instead of a mayor who would rally the councils and

(02:53):
the public, we got somebody who shrank from scrutiny. And then,
in her final council speech yesterday, we got the encore
the blame game. Farno used her last act in office
to highlight the abuse she faced and yes some of

(03:13):
it was vile, Yes some of it was unacceptable, and
yes some of it was personal. She cited lurd rumors,
online harassment, and sexist behavior from counselors like Ray Young.
She deemed change. She demanded a change to fix what
she called a toxic council culture. A couple of words

(03:35):
she said in the.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Speech, So to those who created those challenges, thank you.
Whether it was members around this very table feeding defamatory
rumors to the media, whether it was some media reporting
on defamatory rumors as fact. Whether it was Better Wellington
harassing our elected members or members of Vision for Wellington

(03:56):
lobbying government for intervention even though they were supposedly a
political whether it's previous mayors or elected members who criticized
this council for high rates. It was their decisions and
under investment who caused them, leaving us to pick up the.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Film fair enough, Misogyny and abuse in politics must be
ruled out no one, no one should face that. But
here's the thing. While Tory was naming names and pointing
fingers Wellington, we were still left with broken pipes, spiraling rates,

(04:31):
and a city in crisis. Cycle ways and places we
did not want or need them. That's the part that
never got fixed. She tried, She gave it a go,
But giving it a go isn't enough when you're in
charge of a capital city. We needed toughness. Vision competence,

(04:55):
we got hype, we got controversy, and we've got a
legacy that will be remembered for what it delivered. It
didn't deliver. So Saturday, Wellington turns the page. Torrifano came,
she stumbled, and she left. The accidental mayor is no

(05:18):
longer and the question now is simple, who's going to
pick up the pieces and finally give the city the
leadership it's been crying out for. There's no doubt that
she and other female politicians are dealing with unjust abuse.
But still she had the power. She had to power

(05:40):
through it, really and she had to be a leader,
and I don't think she did that successfully. I wish
Toy all the best. I enjoyed our conversations when they
did happen, but I'm disappointed and always will be disappointed
that she took advice not to communicate with you, with me,

(06:03):
with our city.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
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