Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau. Photo / WCC
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau’s office is working on a security plan for her that includes having a minder at events, an unmarked car so people don’t know where she is, and a clean-up of her social media.
Whanau is concerned future decisions on “trigger” topics such as Three Waters reform, climate action and rates increases could result in aggressive behaviour.
“As a wahine Māori in the spotlight, I’m just expecting it to be honest. I saw it so much at Parliament - I feel like this is just going to be part of the job.”
Whanau believed it was the first time such a security plan had been required for the mayoral role.
Wellington City Council and Auckland Council have reported an increase in anti-social and threatening behaviour towards elected representatives in the past few years.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson has also recently flagged fears for MPs’ safety on the upcoming general election campaign trail, after an escalation in threats and abuse.
Whanau said she was yet to receive any threats against her, but she has noticed an uptick in personal insults and troubling comments online.
Along with the security plan being written by Whanau’s chief of staff, she is also considering deleting her Twitter account.
“It has just become a bit of a toxic fest and I’m finding very little value in that.”
She planned on hiring someone to manage her social media, which would include monitoring for problematic comments and a clean-up of her platforms.
“It’s more like being really mindful of what information is actually put out there in the public domain so that people can’t just find me,” Whanau said.
Whanau said she was relieved when the Government decided to remove the need for local government election candidates to display their addresses on campaign material.
People joked almost weekly about whether she had received a death threat and that it would only be a matter of time until she did, she said.
“That sort of stuff is just kind of unacceptable, why have we accepted this?”
During the last Wellington City Council term, councillors revealed they have carried personal security devices, had their homes checked by council staff, and felt they needed to look over their shoulders after receiving threatening messages.
This was after their colleague councillor Rebecca Matthews, who has been re-elected this term, called in police to investigate an online death threat.
Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said he could not discuss specific details of security issues for elected members or staff.
“However the council continues to review and update our security responsibilities given the country’s changing security ‘climate’ over the past few years.”
Auckland Council governance support manager Steve van Kampen said an internal review of safety and security measures for elected members was done this year.
He said many were concerned about their safety in very public-facing roles, which was an unfortunate reality.
“We have put in place a number of initiatives that help our councillors and local board members take care of themselves when out in the community or at public meetings, where largely they are responsible for their own health and safety.
“These include situational awareness training, which offers tools for personal safety, and ways to escalate security needs to our council security team if they need to.”
Online harassment was also part of the training as well as guidance on managing social media accounts.
Van Kampen said good security was also in place in council buildings and at council meetings.
Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s office has been contacted for comment regarding any specific security arrangements he had made.