Georgina Campbell: NZ Herald reporter on whether Justin Lester will run to be Wellington's next mayor

Wellington mayor Justin Lester isn't ruling out another run for Wellington's top job. 

The former mayor, who failed to win reelection after one term in 2019, says it's not his intention to run but he may stand depending on the other candidates. 

"If Wellington got to a state where things got so bad and there were no good candidates and my family came to me and said we want you to do something, I might do it. I might consider it," Lester told Nick Mills yesterday. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk, said.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
B joining us now is Georgina Campbell's specials is issues
reporter for the Herald. George, You've just done an article
about Justin Lester. Was it because you heard him on
the show and you thought to himself, Oh, that's a
strange one.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, it was. It was quite a nice segway from
next actually, because the article that he mentioned at the
end of his headlines was the article.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
That I I should have picked up on that I
was thinking of getting your intro right rather than listening
to him.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
So yeah, I mean I did listen to the interview yesterday.
I'd also packed up on the fact that Justin Lister
has launched this new social media facebook page called Wellington Alive,
and I thought, oh, you know, like I said, a
bit of a soft launch of a mirror bit. And
I do think it's interesting, you know that he's sort
of using language like I have zero intention of running,

(01:01):
but he won't rule it out. Yeah, so I think
he's I think he's stirring the pot. Yeah, is my view.
I would be highly surprised if he did actually run again,
and he's sort of using the lines that a lot
of politicians use. It's sort of like a a well

(01:22):
versed strategy to be like, oh, no, I'm not running,
but if it got so bad and if enough people
came to me and you know, then I would consider it,
because that is often what people say, you know, when
they actually decide to run and everyone's like, oh, but
you said you weren't running, and they're like, oh, but
you know, come to me and I just and I
just had to.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Do you do you think you'd have a chance.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Look, I don't. I don't know when I think about this.
You know, he was a one term mayor. Andy Foster
beat him. And yes, Andy Foster had the backing of
Sir Peter Jackson. It was a lot of money. How
I don't think it's Sir Peter Jackson alone that got

(02:10):
Andy across the line. I also think it was a
resounding no from Wellingtonians to Justin, you know, like, I
think it said a lot about how they felt about Justin.
And I think my concern too, is that Justin Leicester
was a one term mayor. Andy Foster was a one
term mayor. We'll see if Torri Fano ends up being

(02:32):
a one term mayor. But I think it shows that
Wellingtonians are quite sort of disgruntled, and I don't think
kind of going back to somebody that they booted out
after one term. It makes good sense, you know, it's
the answer for a city that kind of needs something fresh.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now, you would have heard this a lot because you
spent a lot more time in counsel than I do.
But I hear it from my seat here. It's very
difficult to become mayor without being on the council for
the first time.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
Well, I guess Tori Fano did that, didn't she.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
We're not quished how well she did it. I'm just saying,
I mean, I mean, I know it's possible to get
the job. Eron wants you to be pome here, but
suddenly you get put in with this other twelve people
around you. You've got to build a team and you've
got him to understand your way, and you've got to
know how it works.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I think it is helpful if you are familiar with
local government, you know how the processes work, because like
it's kind of a monster. Honestly, the council is like
a maze of different procedures and processes, and you know,
if you're coming in as the mayor, if you don't
have to learn that because you already know that and
can just focus on being a leader for the city,

(03:42):
then I think that's really helpful.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So he would have that. I think he's a better person.
I'm not saying better, worse, whatever. I mean. I think
he's more experience, obviously now than he was. I didn't
think he was a bad mayor when he was in.
I thought he was a good mayor. I mean, I
know that he was the one that introduced the Golden
Mile and let's get will into moving and all that stuff.
That was his sort of in the era that he
was around. But I thought he was, you know, a

(04:07):
decent mayor.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
I think, you know, just what stands out for me
from Justin Lester's merialty, the Kai Colder earthquake, like he's
often talked about as responding really well to that. I
think one of the things that he maybe could have
considered doing was declaring a local state of emergency. I
think a lot of people talk about how I should
have done that. I think Tarkena happened while he was

(04:35):
the mayor. But when you look, you're like sort of
planning for it.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
Yeah, and you sort of look back and you're like, well,
what did Justin Nesta do? Is mere the rainbow crossing?
There's nothing really substantial though that sort of stands out
for me, And that might be and it probably is
because he only had three years, which isn't a lot
of time to do anything substantial.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
You think I might be clutching extraws.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
I really don't know if Justin Lissa is the answer.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, okay, right now. I think he would stand a
good chance right now, but I think, you know, we
just don't know who's going to stand or what's going
to come out of the woodwork.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah. And the only reason I think that there's so
much sort of speculation about this and there's all these
news stories about Justin Lister is because we haven't got
a heavyweight contender yet. Like sure, like rage Hung has
announced that he's running, and you know, like he'll run
a good campaign, but we haven't got like a big
name heavyweight contender.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
I think where you get that Where did you get
that line from? Because that's a great line. I'm going
to use that line from now on. I'm going to
pitch that line we don't have a heavyweight contender. I
love it over.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Neck and I think, you know, until we get somebody,
then Wellington's room and mill always goes into overdrive at
the beginning of local body election year. Who's running? Who's
getting any other?

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Note?

Speaker 3 (05:50):
No, actually I'm not, but I've only been back for
a few days, so I've been away out of the
city for a month, so I'm not super plugged into
those channels yet. But yeah, and there'll be you know,
even like Justin Lister starting this Facebook page like oh,
you know, like it does that mean he's launching a
meyal campaign. As soon as we actually get some really
really strong contenders, all of that will just disappear.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
It's interesting that you thought the same thing. That's why
I brought him in, yeah, to say, but that's what
I think. Come on, you're not doing this for just
to be a nice guy or he had someone that
he wanted to get ready to put on it and
do it.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
But also good on him, Like I do think that
he is genuine about loving the city and wanting to
and wanting to create something positive. I do think, you know,
he is genuine about that because he is a big
champion for the city and I've had a look at
the Facebook page and it's actually nice, you know, for
people having that pop up in their feeds, like nice
stories about local businesses and stuff. Cool.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, thanks George Boys appreciating HEROLD issues. Reporter Georgina Campbell.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.