November 12, 2024 • 8 mins
In this week's Capital Letter, NZ Herald Wellington Issues reporter Georgina Campbell discusses further details around the appointment of Lindsay McKenzie as council Crown Observer.
She also chats with Nick Mills about concern from a Ministry over Te Papa charging foreign visitors, and the latest on the Government's plan for a second Mt. Victoria tunnel.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks dB taking the pulse of the city
The Capital Letter on News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's time for the Capitol Letter with New Zealand Herald
Wellington's issues reported. Georgina Campbell, Good morning, Georgina.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Crown Observer. Lindsey Mackenzie's been named and he starts today.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
If you met him, if you talked to him, No,
I actually haven't, but I look forward to having a
chat with him. It is his first day on the job.
Counselors are having a briefing this morning about the long
term plan and some of them are a bit surprised
that he's not there.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh so he's not there for that part.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So he's not there in person. But we have found
out that he will be paid one thousand dollars per day.
He expects to work two or three days a week,
so it's not a full time.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I heard two days is now too three?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Is it? That's what he says, two or three days.
I think it could be a situation where it's more
hands on, maybe this side of Christmas, like just getting
in there, giving the layer of the land sorting things
out and then towards the end of his term he
might not need to spend as much time if things
go well. But of course he is the former chief
(01:29):
executive of the Tasman and Gismon District Councils, so you know,
he's been touted as somebody with really good, strong local
government experience. And he will be with Wellington City Council
until the end of July twenty twenty five, or will
finish earlier if that's appropriate. So he is based in Nelson,
(01:51):
so he'll fly from Nelson for the job and travel
expenses will be paid by the council. His remuneration will
be paid by the council.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
It was interesting because we had mea Tori Fino on
the show yesterday. She didn't know that she was paying.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
For Yeah, that confused me because she was actually asked
about that when the Crown Observer was announced and that
Samon Brown said he was appointing a Crown Observer, so
a couple of weeks ago now, and she said at
that time it was frustrating that the unexpected cost had
to be met by the council. So maybe that was
(02:26):
just a slip up on her behalf, but she certainly
knew back then that the council would have to pay.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
What did you make of her comments if you did
hear the show about the fact of her feeling that
they didn't need an observer but was going to welcome
them with open arms. I don't know whether she used
open arms, but she said definitely welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, she said she accepted it, didn't she, which I
think I guess as the mayor, you probably have to
say that you don't think the council needs a Crown observer,
because if you kind of say yes, we need it,
then that is admitting that, you know, like there's a
poe there or a problem.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Although you could take it on the front foot and
say we have got her shoes. People can see it.
Let's get it right and I'm happy to have someone
come in and get it right.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah. And she has been pretty you know, accepting, like
straight after Simon Brown announced that that was what was happening,
she said, okay, like I support this, I'll accept it,
like let's get on with it. So we haven't had
a lot of pushback from her on that night.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
No, to be fair, we haven't. But what could she say? No,
she said, no, what would happen then we both know
what would happen there. It would escalate up the ladder
a bit, wouldn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think it was interesting yesterday when she said, look,
unanimous is no longer the word that she would use
in terms of her goal for the council, And she
said she believes that they can work together, but you know,
they were never all going to be best friends, and
she did admit that she was a bit naive about
(03:58):
that when she first started.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, okay, let's move on from the council and talk
about Tapapa because we on the show actually, I think
kind of released it that to Papa was going to
charge overseas businesses. I know that we did an hour
on it. It's been going for a week while now
that we found out, what do you find out about this,
it's quite a bit of money's coming.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean, look, we'll start with the good news
is that to Papa says it's going really well. So
they're charging international visitors thirty five dollars. The museum remains
free for kiwis. They're happy with how it's going. As
of the end of October, almost ten thousand tickets have
been sold to international visitors. The total value of tickets
(04:41):
sold during that period was almost three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, so sales to date are on average about
eighty seven percent of to Papa's target. What he did
find out though, is that the Ministry for Culture and
Heritage did raise some concerns about this fee when to
Papa sort of floated it with them and the Minister
(05:02):
ahead of going public with it. You know, the industry
is overall sort of supportive of it, but they sort
of were worried about to Papa's projected compliance rates that
they might be a bit over inflated given the high
trust model that it intended to run. So the Ministry said,
you know, to Papa's advice, did articulate how this compliance
(05:25):
rate was identified. There was a risk that compliance rates
could trend downward once international visitors became aware of the
lack of enforcement because basically, as I understand it, how
it's operating, as people walk through the door to PAPA
staff sort of ask, you know, where they're from at
they care where they are international visitor and point them
in the right direction. So there's you know, kind of
(05:45):
an opportunity there if people really wanted to to gain
the system, but to Papa sort of has maintained that
all the issues raised in this briefing to Paul Goldsmith
the Minister, were considered and addressed at the time and
they're happy with how things.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think that's a good result. That's sort of money,
you know, it's a lot of money. Let's talk about
the cost of scrapping the Mega tunnel. I know that
you've been hot on that. You've sort of been the
front of all media on it. So what's your latest
story about the Mount Victoria tunnel. Give us a tunnel
story to finish your segment on.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's all happening, isn't it. Yeah, so look, the long tunnel, though,
is not happening. And that's the latest on that. So simple.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm disappointed.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I think a lot of Wellingtonians will be. I think
it was appealing because of the amount of space that
would free up in the central city. It is sort
of frustrating, I think to have State Highway one go
through our central city, you know, like through Cuba Street.
But it's not happening because it was going to cost
about eight billion dollars, Samin Brown told me. And look
(06:49):
that would not have played well when you know the
government has canceled the Megafiries because those costs had escalated
to almost three billion dollars. Would have looked even worse
considering the government has also downgraded the Dunedin Hospital project
because those costs had escalated to three billion dollars as well.
This Long Tunnel was going to cost eight billion dollars.
(07:10):
That is a huge amount of money that we simply don't.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Have and was never going to fly.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think, you know, I think there are some
questions to be asked around whether this was just a
complete waste of time and money. The Long Tunnel is
not a new idea. Some investigation has been done on
it before and at the time it was just steemed
an eye watering cost. But Simmion Brown has maintained that
investigating the tunnel was necessary because he said that more
(07:36):
detailed work on the option was never done under the
Labor government, so he wanted some more detailed work to
I guess firmly say one way or the other whether
it was a possibility and do we know what.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
They spent on it? Do you know you've been given
a figure what we've spent on the Long tunnel, just
getting to where that is now.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, they've spent at least one point six million dollars
on consultants.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh it's not that much, really, I mean we had
we had to look at it, didn't we It's not.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah, it's not that much in the grand scheme of things.
But the optics of this, when you had national and
opposition absolutely blasting Labor for its consultant spender, does look
a little bit happy.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Credit when they were talking about the Auckland the Auckland Bridge. Yes,
you're right, George. Always a pleasure, Thank you for your information.
You've got anything coming up, you've got anything, You're gonna
give us a little bit of insight. You never do,
but you never You always say watch my page.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm always working on something neck.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So okay, no hints, no hints, no hints again from George.
Thanks George. There will be something, don't worry. There'll be
something out before the weekend that'll be big and so
I'll let you know that for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks dB taking the pulse of the city
The Capital Letter on News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's time for the Capitol Letter with New Zealand Herald
Wellington's issues reported. Georgina Campbell, Good morning, Georgina.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Crown Observer. Lindsey Mackenzie's been named and he starts today.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
If you met him, if you talked to him, No,
I actually haven't, but I look forward to having a
chat with him. It is his first day on the job.
Counselors are having a briefing this morning about the long
term plan and some of them are a bit surprised
that he's not there.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh so he's not there for that part.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
So he's not there in person. But we have found
out that he will be paid one thousand dollars per day.
He expects to work two or three days a week,
so it's not a full time.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I heard two days is now too three?
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Is it? That's what he says, two or three days.
I think it could be a situation where it's more
hands on, maybe this side of Christmas, like just getting
in there, giving the layer of the land sorting things
out and then towards the end of his term he
might not need to spend as much time if things
go well. But of course he is the former chief
(01:29):
executive of the Tasman and Gismon District Councils, so you know,
he's been touted as somebody with really good, strong local
government experience. And he will be with Wellington City Council
until the end of July twenty twenty five, or will
finish earlier if that's appropriate. So he is based in Nelson,
(01:51):
so he'll fly from Nelson for the job and travel
expenses will be paid by the council. His remuneration will
be paid by the council.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
It was interesting because we had mea Tori Fino on
the show yesterday. She didn't know that she was paying.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
For Yeah, that confused me because she was actually asked
about that when the Crown Observer was announced and that
Samon Brown said he was appointing a Crown Observer, so
a couple of weeks ago now, and she said at
that time it was frustrating that the unexpected cost had
to be met by the council. So maybe that was
(02:26):
just a slip up on her behalf, but she certainly
knew back then that the council would have to pay.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
What did you make of her comments if you did
hear the show about the fact of her feeling that
they didn't need an observer but was going to welcome
them with open arms. I don't know whether she used
open arms, but she said definitely welcome.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, she said she accepted it, didn't she, which I
think I guess as the mayor, you probably have to
say that you don't think the council needs a Crown observer,
because if you kind of say yes, we need it,
then that is admitting that, you know, like there's a
poe there or a problem.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Although you could take it on the front foot and
say we have got her shoes. People can see it.
Let's get it right and I'm happy to have someone
come in and get it right.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah. And she has been pretty you know, accepting, like
straight after Simon Brown announced that that was what was happening,
she said, okay, like I support this, I'll accept it,
like let's get on with it. So we haven't had
a lot of pushback from her on that night.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
No, to be fair, we haven't. But what could she say? No,
she said, no, what would happen then we both know
what would happen there. It would escalate up the ladder
a bit, wouldn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think it was interesting yesterday when she said, look,
unanimous is no longer the word that she would use
in terms of her goal for the council, And she
said she believes that they can work together, but you know,
they were never all going to be best friends, and
she did admit that she was a bit naive about
(03:58):
that when she first started.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, okay, let's move on from the council and talk
about Tapapa because we on the show actually, I think
kind of released it that to Papa was going to
charge overseas businesses. I know that we did an hour
on it. It's been going for a week while now
that we found out, what do you find out about this,
it's quite a bit of money's coming.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean, look, we'll start with the good news
is that to Papa says it's going really well. So
they're charging international visitors thirty five dollars. The museum remains
free for kiwis. They're happy with how it's going. As
of the end of October, almost ten thousand tickets have
been sold to international visitors. The total value of tickets
(04:41):
sold during that period was almost three hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, so sales to date are on average about
eighty seven percent of to Papa's target. What he did
find out though, is that the Ministry for Culture and
Heritage did raise some concerns about this fee when to
Papa sort of floated it with them and the Minister
(05:02):
ahead of going public with it. You know, the industry
is overall sort of supportive of it, but they sort
of were worried about to Papa's projected compliance rates that
they might be a bit over inflated given the high
trust model that it intended to run. So the Ministry said,
you know, to Papa's advice, did articulate how this compliance
(05:25):
rate was identified. There was a risk that compliance rates
could trend downward once international visitors became aware of the
lack of enforcement because basically, as I understand it, how
it's operating, as people walk through the door to PAPA
staff sort of ask, you know, where they're from at
they care where they are international visitor and point them
in the right direction. So there's you know, kind of
(05:45):
an opportunity there if people really wanted to to gain
the system, but to Papa sort of has maintained that
all the issues raised in this briefing to Paul Goldsmith
the Minister, were considered and addressed at the time and
they're happy with how things.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I think that's a good result. That's sort of money,
you know, it's a lot of money. Let's talk about
the cost of scrapping the Mega tunnel. I know that
you've been hot on that. You've sort of been the
front of all media on it. So what's your latest
story about the Mount Victoria tunnel. Give us a tunnel
story to finish your segment on.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's all happening, isn't it. Yeah, so look, the long tunnel, though,
is not happening. And that's the latest on that. So simple.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I'm disappointed.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I think a lot of Wellingtonians will be. I think
it was appealing because of the amount of space that
would free up in the central city. It is sort
of frustrating, I think to have State Highway one go
through our central city, you know, like through Cuba Street.
But it's not happening because it was going to cost
about eight billion dollars, Samin Brown told me. And look
(06:49):
that would not have played well when you know the
government has canceled the Megafiries because those costs had escalated
to almost three billion dollars. Would have looked even worse
considering the government has also downgraded the Dunedin Hospital project
because those costs had escalated to three billion dollars as well.
This Long Tunnel was going to cost eight billion dollars.
(07:10):
That is a huge amount of money that we simply don't.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Have and was never going to fly.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Yeah, I think, you know, I think there are some
questions to be asked around whether this was just a
complete waste of time and money. The Long Tunnel is
not a new idea. Some investigation has been done on
it before and at the time it was just steemed
an eye watering cost. But Simmion Brown has maintained that
investigating the tunnel was necessary because he said that more
(07:36):
detailed work on the option was never done under the
Labor government, so he wanted some more detailed work to
I guess firmly say one way or the other whether
it was a possibility and do we know what.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
They spent on it? Do you know you've been given
a figure what we've spent on the Long tunnel, just
getting to where that is now.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, they've spent at least one point six million dollars
on consultants.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Oh it's not that much, really, I mean we had
we had to look at it, didn't we It's not.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah, it's not that much in the grand scheme of things.
But the optics of this, when you had national and
opposition absolutely blasting Labor for its consultant spender, does look
a little bit happy.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Credit when they were talking about the Auckland the Auckland Bridge. Yes,
you're right, George. Always a pleasure, Thank you for your information.
You've got anything coming up, you've got anything, You're gonna
give us a little bit of insight. You never do,
but you never You always say watch my page.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I'm always working on something neck.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So okay, no hints, no hints, no hints again from George.
Thanks George. There will be something, don't worry. There'll be
something out before the weekend that'll be big and so
I'll let you know that for sure.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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