Speaker 1: Hilda.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by The New Zealand Herald. Wellington City
Speaker 2: will have a new mayor by the end of this year.
Speaker 2: After previously committing to run for a second term, Mayor
Speaker 2: Torri Farno has pulled out of the race. It comes
Speaker 2: after her term was dominated by personal incidents and infighting
Speaker 2: between counselors, but she made her decision only a day
Speaker 2: after work finally started on the Golden Mile project. A
Speaker 2: number of men are running to take over the Merrill reins,
Speaker 2: with former Labor Minister Andrew Little just the latest to
Speaker 2: enter the competition. But whoever takes on the city's top
Speaker 2: job will need to deal with rising rents, declining house
Speaker 2: prices and the ongoing ferry issues. Today on the front
Speaker 2: Page ends ed Me Wellington reporter Ethan Minera joins us
Speaker 2: to discuss what Farno's departure means for our capital in crisis.
Speaker 2: So Ethan, after what can only be described, I suppose
Speaker 2: as a tumultuous term, Tory Farnow is giving up her
Speaker 2: re election bid in the Capitol.
Speaker 1: Did this come as a surprise.
Speaker 3: Well, yes and no. I mean, going back to the start.
Speaker 3: Tory Fano always said she wanted three terms for the
Speaker 3: mealty and she was always very consistent with that idea
Speaker 3: up until sort of late last year when she was
Speaker 3: on news talks. He'd be with Wellington Morning's host Nick Mills,
Speaker 3: where she sort of seemed to waiver. The tone had changed.
Speaker 3: She said that she was going to take the summer
Speaker 3: to talk to friends and family about it. So that
Speaker 3: is all sort of pricked up in the newsroom when
Speaker 3: she said that, and we were asking questions, but she
Speaker 3: came back from summer and she was very strong in
Speaker 3: saying that she was committed to the job. She did
Speaker 3: reveal that she had wavered, but she sort of came
Speaker 3: out swinging up until you know, a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3: She had sought the Green Party endorsement. She got that
Speaker 3: a couple weeks ago. And so when it was initially
Speaker 3: revealed and we learnt that she was going to be
Speaker 3: quitting the mile race, it was an initial surprise, but
Speaker 3: I think taking a step back and listening to some
Speaker 3: of the reasons why she isn't going to stand again,
Speaker 3: it's perhaps a little bit less surprising. I mean, she's
Speaker 3: given a huge range of reasons for why she's decided
Speaker 3: to drop out of the race and sort of throw
Speaker 3: her support behind Andrew Little. She says with him running
Speaker 3: for mea she likes him as a candidate and she
Speaker 3: wants both of them to be on council. She also says,
Speaker 3: after turning the soil on the Golden Mile project, that's
Speaker 3: a huge achievement that she's been trying to get across
Speaker 3: the line, and now with that started, she can happily
Speaker 3: step back. I think, perhaps more realistically, there was some
Speaker 3: realization there that this was going to be a hard
Speaker 3: campaign to win. We saw some recent polling that showed
Speaker 3: that Tory didn't have the same support that she had
Speaker 3: when she was first elected. We remember she was elected
Speaker 3: with a very strong majority last election in twenty twenty too,
Speaker 3: and it has been a tough mayoralty. There have been challenges,
Speaker 3: and I think she perhaps thought that it might not
Speaker 3: be as easy to win this time around, and so
Speaker 3: decided to throw in the towel.
Speaker 1: What's going to be her legacy?
Speaker 3: I think it will be split. I mean, she's come
Speaker 3: for herself and outlined a list of achievements that she
Speaker 3: wants to be her legacy. The key one, I would say,
Speaker 3: would be that Golden Mile project. It's been long mooted,
Speaker 3: it's been debated a number of times, it's gone to
Speaker 3: consultation a number of times. It will be key to
Speaker 3: see whether the main work on that can be signed off.
Speaker 3: I note that the contract for the majority of the
Speaker 3: Courtney Place work of this transport project still hasn't been signed.
Speaker 3: She wants to get that signed before the election. The
Speaker 3: only part that has been signed, the only contract for
Speaker 3: work is for the intersection at the top of Courtney Place.
Speaker 3: So if she can get the rest of it signed
Speaker 3: off before the election, gets spades in the ground, that
Speaker 3: will be a huge legacy. I think lots of people
Speaker 3: want something done there, lots of businesses also oppose it,
Speaker 3: so whether it's positive or negative, that will be something
Speaker 3: that she'll be able to point to as a tangible
Speaker 3: outcome for her majority getting that across the line. Other
Speaker 3: things that she's pointed to assycleways and other controversial topic
Speaker 3: in Wellington. Bono's celebrating adding twenty seven kilometers of new
Speaker 3: bike lanes under her term. Also water, I'd say, to
Speaker 3: her credit, she has been a big supporter of pouring
Speaker 3: more funding into Wellington Water for them to get ahead
Speaker 3: of links, and some recent data shows that they have
Speaker 3: been getting on top of them. But I think a
Speaker 3: key feature of her tenure be some of those personal
Speaker 3: issues and some of the headlines that she's generated over
Speaker 3: the past few years. You know, she admitted to a
Speaker 3: drinking problem after a few instances of public intoxication. She'd
Speaker 3: also revealed term media she'd been diagnosed with ADHD and
Speaker 3: significant traits of autism. Late last year she said on
Speaker 3: newstooks he'd be again that she sold her car to
Speaker 3: help her pay the bills. So those sort of things
Speaker 3: have been a real highlight of a mayority in something
Speaker 3: that she's admitted herself have become a distraction. Also, relationship
Speaker 3: issues have been a repeated issue. She hasn't been able
Speaker 3: to unify the council when she admits this, She hasn't
Speaker 3: been able to get people around the table, get those
Speaker 3: conservative counselors on board, and it's been a similar issue
Speaker 3: with central government as well. There's sort of a constant
Speaker 3: battle between her and the Coalition, trading jabs often. Christopher
Speaker 3: Luxon recently said that the Wellington councils were lame over
Speaker 3: not putting in a regional deal. Tori Fano hit back,
Speaker 3: saying that Chris Luxen wasn't a very nice person and
Speaker 3: so that's sort of been something that's constantly bubbling away
Speaker 3: as her issues with central government, and something that I
Speaker 3: think voters want to see in another candidate is someone
Speaker 3: who can work with central government to get outcomes for Wellington.
Speaker 4: If you are going to rape yourself out of ten
Speaker 4: your scorecard, ten being the best mayor ever and one
Speaker 4: being not that great, where would you put yourself.
Speaker 5: I look back at what I campaigned on, what I
Speaker 5: said I would deliver to the city. I'd give myself
Speaker 5: a nine out of ten. Apart from light rail, everything
Speaker 5: I campaigned on is in train, and I'm really proud
Speaker 5: of that.
Speaker 2: You know, this.
Speaker 5: Council's delivered the most investment in water one point eight
Speaker 5: billion dollars. That's three times the previous council. We've enabled
Speaker 5: more homes, delivered, more psychle ways, more bus lanes, you know,
Speaker 5: really good stuff. Yes, we're a city in transition. There's
Speaker 5: a lot of construction happening, but you know people have
Speaker 5: to see that as progress.
Speaker 2: Well, I've counted at least six men who have put
Speaker 2: up their hands officially to take her job.
Speaker 1: So who are the main contenders?
Speaker 3: Yeah, we do have sex and interesting to note they
Speaker 3: are all men now that are Tory funds pulled out
Speaker 3: of the race. So we have former Labor Party leader
Speaker 3: Andrew Little. We have current center right city councilor Ray Chung,
Speaker 3: as well as cafe owner Carl Tiefenbaker, former city councilor
Speaker 3: Rob Golden, conservationist Calvin Hasty and owner of the controversial
Speaker 3: local Facebook page Wellington Live Graham Bloxham.
Speaker 2: Has this become Andrew Little's Maryalty to lose?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I mean of those candids, Little and Ray
Speaker 3: Hung as well, I'd say I definitely seem to be
Speaker 3: the front runners. You know, you've sort of got one
Speaker 3: on the left one on the right. But I would
Speaker 3: say we asked still just under six months out and
Speaker 3: things could still change. I mean, there's nothing stopping another candidate,
Speaker 3: another strong candidate, from stepping in and shaking the race
Speaker 3: up all again. Much of the commentary I've seen has
Speaker 3: been referring to a Little as basically as if it's
Speaker 3: his to lose. And you know, I've heard one reference
Speaker 3: to him being the mere elect and I think we
Speaker 3: do need to remember that it's less than six months away,
Speaker 3: but it's not a done deal. There's still an election
Speaker 3: and it's up to us as voters, not other politicians
Speaker 3: to a point who leads the city.
Speaker 2: One of the big issues with Wellington City Council is
Speaker 2: the fact that it does, like you said, seem to
Speaker 2: be quite divided. This bothered the government so much last
Speaker 2: year that it put a Crown observer in place after
Speaker 2: the airport shares deal fell apart. Do you think any
Speaker 2: of these candidates will be able to bring that kind
Speaker 2: of unity that it needs.
Speaker 3: I mean, time will only tell. All of them will
Speaker 3: be campaigning on trying to bring that unity, as Torrifino did.
Speaker 3: I mean, if we remember back to her campaign, a
Speaker 3: huge selling point of her was that she had worked
Speaker 3: in central government. She was the Green Party's chief of
Speaker 3: staff and sort of sold herself on leading those negotiations
Speaker 3: between the Green's New Zealand First and Labor. That obviously,
Speaker 3: as she admits, wasn't able to help her get unity
Speaker 3: around the council table. And I think Wellington City Council
Speaker 3: is a very political place and it will be a
Speaker 3: struggle for anyone to get everyone to agree, and we
Speaker 3: shouldn't expect that everyone around Wellington City Council should agree
Speaker 3: on everything. I mean, there will always be disagreements, but
Speaker 3: it's how those disagreements are handled and how they play
Speaker 3: out and making sure things don't get ugly. I think
Speaker 3: Andrew Little is definitely selling himself as you know, the
Speaker 3: sensible here of hands, someone who can get everyone together
Speaker 3: and take the politics out of it. So it'll be
Speaker 3: interesting to see, I think, as the merrial debates start
Speaker 3: to kick off later this year, how people act when
Speaker 3: they're up on the debate stage and whether things do
Speaker 3: get a bit feisty and but ugly, or if people
Speaker 3: are able to sort of put the politics to one
Speaker 3: side and debate the issues rather than each other.
Speaker 2: I've seen a lot of the candidates have said that
Speaker 2: they want to cut rates. Wellington has one of the
Speaker 2: highest increases in the country and that was last year
Speaker 2: with a sixteen point nine percent increase, I believe. So
Speaker 2: how easy would it be for a new mayor to
Speaker 2: come in and lower those rates? I mean, what sort
Speaker 2: of projects would need to be on the chopping block?
Speaker 3: Well, that's the funny thing really, I mean everyone says
Speaker 3: that they want to reduce rates, whether they will keep
Speaker 3: them at the same level and not have high future increases,
Speaker 3: or whether it is actually reducing the rates as a
Speaker 3: different story. But then no one's too keen to say
Speaker 3: what projects they would actually like to cut to reduce
Speaker 3: the rates. There are a huge number of things that
Speaker 3: have been brought up though as pit projects that are
Speaker 3: quite expensive, one being the town Hall redevelopment that's already underway.
Speaker 3: There will be no cutting that now, I think lots
Speaker 3: of the money's already spent. The Golden Miles also another
Speaker 3: really expensive project. It is half funded by New Zealand
Speaker 3: Transport Agency. It's about one hundred million dollars and it's
Speaker 3: being paid fifty to fifty between the Council and NZTA.
Speaker 3: But there's lots of other things. I mean, the Council
Speaker 3: has this term really been trying to cut a lot
Speaker 3: of things to try reduce that rate's burden. There have
Speaker 3: been things like the Go in your House that's been
Speaker 3: looking to be demolished, as well as things like the
Speaker 3: City to See Bridge because in both those cases, strengthening
Speaker 3: and refurbishment work has been seen as too expensive by
Speaker 3: the council as well as the Candala pool. That's another
Speaker 3: issue in the same basket where redoing it has been
Speaker 3: seen to be too expensive, and so those things, I
Speaker 3: think those community facilities that vote is really really care
Speaker 3: about in an important to the local communities will be
Speaker 3: bought up. I know Andrew Little has already brought up
Speaker 3: those sort of instances for things that he would want
Speaker 3: to save, but as for what would be cut is
Speaker 3: a bit more of a tricky question to answer.
Speaker 1: Now you mentioned Golden Mile.
Speaker 2: The Golden Mile project broke ground this week with the
Speaker 2: redevelopment of Courtney Place officially starting on May fourth. Now
Speaker 2: to say the project is controversial would be an understatement, right,
Speaker 2: what's given it that moniker?
Speaker 3: I think it's just something that's been debated for so long,
Speaker 3: and because it will be so disruptive to businesses, it's
Speaker 3: really polarized people. I mean I was doing some research
Speaker 3: recently and looking back at the history of it and
Speaker 3: watching videos of Andy Foster, who was Meya a few
Speaker 3: years back, doing pitching it and asking for consultation, and
Speaker 3: it's just such a throwback and it was previously under
Speaker 3: let's get Wellington moving. I think really the business aspect
Speaker 3: and support for businesses is a really contentious issue there.
Speaker 3: When you've got these vocal business owners saying that, look,
Speaker 3: we would have to close if this happened because they
Speaker 3: don't think they'll be able to sustain it. That's what's
Speaker 3: become polarizing and that's something that we're done to see.
Speaker 3: Were some of the candidates coming out saying that they'd
Speaker 3: like to support businesses.
Speaker 4: The city is in pretty serious trouble, it looks like
Speaker 4: to me, I think the heart of those problems is
Speaker 4: a lack of leadership. I think there are a lot
Speaker 4: of problems being ignored. I think there's a lot of
Speaker 4: issues been given priority that, in my view aren't really
Speaker 4: the priorities for Wellington. Wellington's changed a lot in the
Speaker 4: last couple of years because of the public service cuts
Speaker 4: and the pressure on business, and we need a counsel
Speaker 4: that actually is respectful of that, and it prepared to
Speaker 4: change course to accommodate that.
Speaker 1: I saw that.
Speaker 2: While Andrew Little said he wouldn't come in and rip
Speaker 2: up whatever's been done, he said it'd be unwise to
Speaker 2: enter any new agreements before October's council elections.
Speaker 1: Now that gives a tinge of uncertainty.
Speaker 2: Hey, do you think the trials and tribulations of the
Speaker 2: Golden Mile project are actually really over?
Speaker 3: It'll fully depend on whether the current council and Torri
Speaker 3: Fino can get that key contract for the Courtney Place
Speaker 3: work signed before the election. They say that they're actively
Speaker 3: working on it, they're trying to get it signed. And
Speaker 3: I note after those comments were made by Andrew Little
Speaker 3: Toy came out quite strongly and said, look Little is
Speaker 3: not an elected member. He can't make those calls and
Speaker 3: he will have to wait until he is mere if
Speaker 3: he is elected to be able to say those things.
Speaker 3: She will be doing everything she can to try get
Speaker 3: them signed before the election because essentially her legacy is
Speaker 3: on the line there. That's something that she campaigned on
Speaker 3: very strongly. She was voted in with a mandate to
Speaker 3: do the Golden Mile and so she'll be wanting to
Speaker 3: see it through so that after she's gone she can
Speaker 3: point to it and say, look, that is something that
Speaker 3: I've achieved for Wellington.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: In other Wellington related news, Minister for ral Winston Peters
Speaker 2: has announced the retirement of the Ardite Ferry from the
Speaker 2: Cook Straight Now. It'll mean the inter islander fleet will
Speaker 2: go from three to two. What's the reaction been to.
Speaker 3: This, Well, initially concerns raised to sort of surround what's
Speaker 3: going to happen in the interim. So as we know,
Speaker 3: our rail enabled theories aren't due to arrive until twenty
Speaker 3: twenty nine. There are poor upgrades underway ahead of their arrival,
Speaker 3: and the arditary can't use the other wharf and Pickton
Speaker 3: because it requires specific loading and unloading of the structure.
Speaker 3: That's that one hundred and twenty million dollars that Winston
Speaker 3: Peters is talking about saving. So Rail Action Collective founder
Speaker 3: Neil Robson says it's the only rail enabled ship, the
Speaker 3: d Tiri that they have and it takes up to
Speaker 3: eighty percent of rail freight across the strait. He says interround,
Speaker 3: that is two remaining theories will have to shoulder the load.
Speaker 3: But Kibi Rail chief executive Peter Reddy has said, well,
Speaker 3: it's due to leave Wellington late next month. He said
Speaker 3: they're working to give everyone certainty as soon as possible. Now.
Speaker 3: Although Aditiri is currently interund that is only rail enabled
Speaker 3: fury Kibirail can and already does carry rail freight on
Speaker 3: Kaituki and Kayarahi using a road bridging process really says
Speaker 3: they'll be super charging this operation in the meantime.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't suppose the opposition parties are too pleased
Speaker 2: with it as well.
Speaker 3: No Salabour's transport spokesperson Tungi Utakiri has said that the
Speaker 3: two remaining what he describes as old and aging theories
Speaker 3: are going to have to work double time because of
Speaker 3: what he described as Nikola Willis's botched original Fury deal. He's,
Speaker 3: of course referring to the acting of the Rix Fury
Speaker 3: contract eighteen months ago after it became there was a
Speaker 3: three billion dollar cost blowout.
Speaker 2: Now we've spoken on this podcast earlier this year about
Speaker 2: how landlords were struggling to find renters and we've heard
Speaker 2: about businesses closing down every other week. It feels like
Speaker 2: some cafe or restaurant has closed. What's the mood like
Speaker 2: in Wellington at the moment.
Speaker 3: Well I think that Yeah, there has been a lot
Speaker 3: of talk about whether this perennial debate around whether Wellington
Speaker 3: is dying. I think a little bit of that has subsided.
Speaker 3: There was definitely a flurry towards the end of last
Speaker 3: year of business closures. The issue of rents was also
Speaker 3: an interesting one. We saw rateable values for properties decrease
Speaker 3: by around twenty five percent, so that was a huge
Speaker 3: change in the property market with house prices decreasing. So
Speaker 3: I think there are a lot of issues for Wellington.
Speaker 3: The city's sort of at a crossroads with lots of
Speaker 3: debate around how things need to be fixed. But it'll
Speaker 3: be that October elegation that will really be a key
Speaker 3: moment for the way forward and how Wellington responds to
Speaker 3: these issues that it seems to be facing.
Speaker 2: Wellington has had three one term mayors in a row.
Speaker 2: Are Wellingonian's hoping for a bit more stability maybe?
Speaker 3: Yeah. The one term meor issue has been something that's
Speaker 3: debated a little bit after obviously, after Torri final announced
Speaker 3: that she wouldn't be seeking re election that will make
Speaker 3: her the third consecutive one term mayor. Immediately following that,
Speaker 3: Dame Carey Prendergast to form a three term meor came
Speaker 3: out and told Mike Costing that that was bad for
Speaker 3: the city. It's been something that I've been sort of
Speaker 3: trying to dig into. Why has Wellington had three one
Speaker 3: term mayors and why is it different from the rest
Speaker 3: of the country in that sense. This morning I interviewed
Speaker 3: at local government experts doctor Andy Asquith. He was sort
Speaker 3: of saying that it's a symptom of the dysfunction at
Speaker 3: Wellington City Council and those political sort of power struggles.
Speaker 3: He thinks that the most recent two meors haven't been
Speaker 3: able to really bring the council together and that's why
Speaker 3: Wellingtonians are, in his words, sort of sick of them
Speaker 3: and throwing them out in favor of looking for more certainty.
Speaker 3: But I think an interesting aspect of this election is
Speaker 3: that Wellingtonians now have the option to vote in the incumbent.
Speaker 3: We are going to have to see a fresh face
Speaker 3: and new pair of hands, and so it'll be whether
Speaker 3: the person who gets voted anixt is able to commit
Speaker 3: to and serve multiple terms in the role.
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Ethan, great thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: That's it for this episode of The Front Page. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at enzadherld dot co dot nz. The Front Page is
Speaker 2: produced by Ethan Sills and Richard Martin, who is also
Speaker 2: our sound engineer.
Speaker 1: I'm Chelsea Daniels.
Speaker 2: Subscribe to the front page on iHeartRadio or wherever you
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Speaker 2: look behind the headlines.