Diane Calvert: Wellington City Councillor calls for Government intervention after questionable week from Tory Whanau

There's further calls for Government intervention in Wellington City Council after a rough TV interview from the mayor.

Tory Whanau has faced criticism following a Q&A interview where she backtracked on why she sold her car, contradicted herself, and got confused on questions.

Local councillor Diane Calvert has been calling for a Crown facilitator on the council.

She now says people have lost trust in the council.

"A lot of people have rung me, texted me, or stopped me in the street - we're really sad about what's happening in our city. It needs some leadership and it's not there."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wellington Mayor Tory Farno has caused a bit of a
commotion over the weekend because in an interview with Q
and A she admitted, yeah, she backtracked on the claim
that she made a few days earlier that she'd sold
the car to pay the bills.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
No, I actually didn't. And it's a shame because it
was taken out of context. It was an hour long interview,
you get a bit relaxed. I mean the main reason
actually was because it's a walkable city.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And then afterwards, in another twist on a twist, the
Mayor's office sent a statement to Q and A saying, Nola,
actually she did sell the car to help with the
mortgatory payments. So who knows what's actually the truth. Wellington
City Councilor Diane Calvert is with us. Now, Hi, Diane,
Hi had her. She's obviously the laughing stock of the
city today, isn't she.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Well. I have to say that a lot of people
have either rung me, text me or stopped me in
the street. Really sad about what's happening about our city.
You know, it needs strong leadership and it's not there.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, So do you think it's time for the Crown observer.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Well, I think an observer with a specific role of facilitation,
you know, basically helping the mayor be able to engage
with all the elected members, you know, helping the council
better engage with the community and with the government and
with our regional partners such as other councils in the region.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Okay, how do you trigger that council observer, that Crown
observer coming in?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, you can do it two ways. You can either
the council can ask the government for help, which I
don't think our council will come because the majority don't
you know, don't understand, I don't realize, or the government itself,
the Minister of Local Government can doesn't.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
It doesn't sound like he wants to. I mean, your
third option actually is that you guys can tank that
airport airport shares sales vote in order to basically set
off a domino affecting kind which kind of forces to
me in Brown's hand. Is that possible?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I mean, I suppose that that could be the outcome
of what if we agree not to sell the shares?
But I think the key to that is the council's
lost the public trust and confidence so you know a
lot of people have said to me, look on paper,
just like you said before, it's a good idea to
sell the shares. However, we don't trust the council to
do the right thing. We haven't been given all the

(02:18):
information all at the same time, it's been drip fed.
So the council's lost the public's trust and confidence. And
it's the public's asset, not our asset. It's the public's asset.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So has Tori got a mayor car?

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yes, she does.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
So when she said that she sold her car in
the Q and A interviews because she can just walk
around the city, she actually has another car that she
can use.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, all I know is that their mayor has a
car for their exclusive use.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Okay, cool, that's really interesting, Diane, Thanks very much appreciated,
Diane Calvert, Wellington City councilor For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.