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. 

She seems like a person who if she wasn’t in local politics, might have trouble finding work. 

She admitted, after it was too late, that she really should have done her homework before chasing the big mayoral job. 

She won because too many people stood for mayor and split the vote, so by the time you deal with the appalling turnout and split the vote several times over, you need not a lot of support to get a job you weren't even qualified for any way. 

But that’s local body politics, isn't it, at least at national level. Whether list or electorate, a group of experienced operators give you the once over. 

Locally literally anyone can have a go and that, if you haven't worked it out yet, is a problem. 

It wasn’t all her fault of course. A mayor is not a president and is but one vote. But a mayor's job shouldn’t be a "funsies" party trick because you are bored or unemployable. 

There were the personal issues. That is another problem in the lack of vetting. Some people are basically just a shambles and she is clearly one of those. 

That's not a crime, we all have issues. It's just advisable not to have them on display while you are trying to run things like a city. 

The city is pretty much a reflection of her leadership – a mess. 

Infrastructurally it's an embarrassment; level one water restriction when we are barely out of autumn, a devastated CBD and angst, fury and backstabbing having been a feature of decision making. That particular trait aired yet again in her farewell speech. 

We seem to be in an era where quality in so many parts of life has gone by the wayside. 

Tory Whanau is certainly an example of that. She came, she cocked it up, she flailed and flapped about like we were her psychologists as she aired her many and varied problems, then poof! She's off! Until she wasn’t. 

They, sadly, rarely are. 

But honestly, in a city of Kitts, Fowler, Belich (maybe even Wilde and Prendergast), ol' Tory is hardly one for the record books. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Wellington mayor went out not really in a blaze
of glory yesterday, more a fireball of misery and bitchiness
Tory far now we speak of, of course, probably the local
body posted child for an aptitude she gave her by
by speech she was a shambles. She may well still
be back, of course she's standing in the Marray world.
She seems to me like a person who, if she
wasn't in local body politics, might have trouble finding work,

(00:21):
as she admitted after it was too late, that she
really should have done her homework before chasing the big
meural job. She won because too many people, of course,
stood for Maya and split the vote. So by the
time you deal with the appalling turnout and split the
vote several times over, you don't actually need a lot
of support to get a job that you weren't even
qualified for in the first place. But that's local body politics,

(00:42):
isn't it. That's the joke of it all. At least
it's a national level, whether it's on a list or
in an electorate, there's a group of experienced operators within
the party that give you the once over. Locally, literally,
anyone can have a go and that if you haven't
worked at art yet is a problem. It wasn't all
her fault. Of course, Amya is not a president and
is but one vote. But Amir's job shouldn't be a

(01:02):
funsies party trick because you bored or unemployable. Are there
were the personal issues? That's another problem in a lack
of vetting. Of course, some people are basically just as shambles,
and she's clearly one of those. Not a crime. We
all got issues. It's just advisable not to have them
on display while you're trying to run things like a city,
and the city pretty much a reflection of her leadership.
Isn't it a mess? Infrastructurally an embarrassment Level one water

(01:25):
strictions already when we're barely out of autumn, a devastated CBD,
angst fury and backstabbing having been a feature of decision making,
that particular trait aired yet again in a farewell speech.
Yesterday we seem to be I was thinking to myself,
like yesterday afternoon, we seem to be in an era
where quality in so many eras, areas where parts of
life has gone by the wayside, and Tory farn now

(01:46):
certainly an example of that. She came, she cocked it up,
She flailed, she flapped about what we were. I mean,
we were like her psychologists, weren't we She aired her
many and varied problems, then puff I'm off until she wasn't.
Then they sadly really are. But honestly, in a city
of people like Kits and Fowler and Bellach, maybe even
wild and prindigast Old Tory is hardly one for the

(02:09):
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