The Front Page: Tory Whanau on changing Wellington council and authenticity in politics

Wellington mayor Tory Whanau. Photo / Mark Mitchell

In October 2022, the political left was dealt a major blow when many of the nation’s local councils swung to the right, in a combination of anti-incumbency and anti-government feeling, as well as a general demand for change.

Yet in our capital, that swing went the other way, as former Green Party political staffer Tory Whanau won the Wellington mayoralty, ousting Andy Foster and defeating sitting Labour MP Paul Eagle in the process.

Speaking to The Front Page as the political standout of 2022, Whanau said that the fact Wellington is quite progressive and left-leaning helped her campaign.

“I was also the representative for change. People wanted me to do things differently to what the last couple had done. I was that person promising bold change.

“I suppose what was quite different to what you see with other politicians in Wellington City, in particular, is that I didn’t fit the mold of a typical politician. I was just very myself. Authentic is probably the official term. I just acted like myself the whole time, and that allowed me to connect and relate with people a lot more.”

In her former job, Whanau said she encouraged MPs to avoid being off-the-cuff and avoid swearing, and thought she would be the same when she entered public-facing politics.

“People like it when I speak off the cuff or if I accidentally swear, and I think, and I hope, this is where politics and politicians will go moving forward, and that’s when we’ll start to really encourage really authentic, really caring, really passionate people into this field because man, things are gonna get tough and that authenticity is gonna be the light, right?”

Whanau said that, while it is a lonely job - “I’m often on my own” - she is “100 per cent committed” to the mayoralty and is fine with not having a big life outside of her job.

In 2003, Whanau won $1.3 million in Lotto, which helped her to fund her campaign last year.

“I won’t lie. That is a privilege I’ll never not appreciate,” she told The Front Page. “[But] you shouldn’t need to win Lotto to run for public office. You shouldn’t need Lotto to buy a house. These are the human rights that people should have access.”

This year, all eyes are on the national election and who will be our Prime Minister by the end of 2023. Whanau has simple advice for Jacinda Ardern and Christopher Luxon, and that’s avoiding what she calls “petty politics”.

“It’s really time to just be genuine, tell the truth, and be authentic. I would see other candidate spinning their usual lines that were consistent with a political party, and I’m just kind of like, man, people are sick of hearing that. Let’s just be real. Let’s be real about the fact that the next year’s gonna be tough and that we all have to come together to help each other out, and let’s stop playing politics.”

Listen to the full The Front Page podcast episode to hear more about what Whanau has done to change how council is run in Wellington.