The story resulted in two hours of talkback radio on Newstalk ZB’s Wellington Mornings show.
But was any of it an indication of Whanau’s mayoralty starting to sour after eight months in the top job?
Whanau told A Capital Letter: “If you put me in front of people like me - mana whenua, younger people - there’s this real excitement of a movement in how we’re becoming the decision-makers of our city and of our country. That’s why I got into this, that exists.
“There are people who never voted for me who are openly criticising me. That’s what we’re seeing and I saw it in person, I see it over email, social media, there’s a vocal minority but I think generally I have strong support.”
Whanau romped home in last year’s local body elections with promises of a more unified council and a vibrant, affordable, and climate-friendly city.
She has a working majority around the council table but a faction of councillors has emerged.
The mayor is very aware of these hardening voting blocs, which prompted her to hold a meeting with councillors in March about working together more effectively.
Last week councillors gave the annual plan the green light, including a 12.3 per cent rates increase, with just three of them against it in the main final vote. Councillors Ray Chung, Tony Randle and Nicola Young were against.
This was relatively unified as far as Wellington City Council goes and a far cry from Auckland’s budget debacle with one councillor accusing Mayor Wayne Brown of blackmail, not to mention a chaotic press conference where he excluded certain media outlets.
But in the same week, six Wellington City councillors also filed a notice of motion asking the council to declare no confidence in the $7.4 billion Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) transport plan and withdraw the council’s funding agreement.
The signatories were councillors Tim Brown, Diane Calvert, Sarah Free, Chung, Randle and Young. Councillor John Apanowicz has since confirmed he is also in support.
So, a mixed bag on the working together front you might say.
Asked whether she felt her honeymoon period was over, Whanau agreed it was.
“The more I become more involved and comfortable with my job and I feel like I know what I’m doing now and having to get into the hard yards (we signed off the annual plan and that was really robust gritty work) it’s going to attract a lot more criticism and that’s okay.
“This is actually what I expected the job to be like.”
Does she need a win? Whanau felt getting the annual plan across the line with only three councillors voting against it was a “huge win”.
“I’m keeping to my election promises bit by bit. I suppose we need to determine what a win looks like and I hope that soon we can make an announcement on Reading and that will be a very exciting thing.”
By “Reading” Whanau means the shut-up Reading Cinema building in the middle of Courtenay Place.
It’s an eyesore and a complete waste of prime property.
It was closed in early 2019 after an earthquake risk was discovered. Meanwhile, a carpark next to the cinema building was swiftly demolished following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake and nothing has been built on the site since.
It has become a symbol of the tired state this area of town is in.
Former Wellington Mayor Andy Foster told Newstalk there were conversations about the future of the building in his time and there were probably conversations with former mayor Justin Lester too.
Reading is an international organisation calling the shots here, so any announcement isn’t necessarily a slam dunk win for Whanau.
But she deserves credit for getting whatever announcement is coming over the line.
The problem Whanau faces is that she was elected on a vision, rather than specific and well-defined policy promises.
Her platform risks people tiring of hearing about the vision if there is nothing to show for it.
Whanau’s position is not so different to LGWM’s promises of light rail and a second Mt Victoria tunnel in this respect.
This column is certainly not criticising the Mayor for having a vision, but achieving visions take time.
Whanau will need to identify some tangible wins to bring people with her along the way.
• Senior Wellington journalist Georgina Campbell’s fortnightly column looks closely at issues in the capital.
