Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau rejoins Green Party after previously deciding not to renew membership

Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has rejoined the Green Party after previously deciding not to renew her membership to work more productively with councillors.

Whanau ran as an independent during the 2022 mayoral campaign with her bid endorsed by the Greens. She previously worked as the party’s chief of staff based at Parliament.

After Whanau was elected to the city’s top job, the Herald reported she did not renew her membership in order to work more productively with councillors without a formal tie to a political party.

However, Whanau’s office confirmed today she has now rejoined the party.

Whanau said in a statement she only put her party membership on hold temporarily while she built relationships with her colleagues.

“I have always been open about my support for the party and my alignment on issues”, Whanau said.

Whanau has spent her first term in the city’s top job bogged down in code of conduct complaints, allegations of serial leaking, and claims of dysfunction.

Relationships with some councillors had been tricky, she said in a previous interview with the Herald at the end of last year.

“The majority of council currently are very collaborative, very constructive, and work really well together. I haven’t lost a vote yet and that will continue.

“With other councillors, I think, including myself, behaviour hasn’t been great over the last wee while. We all need to up our game.”

In November, Whanau admitted to having a problem with alcohol after she was seen drunk at Havana Bar. The revelations caused at least one councillor to call for Whanau’s resignation and others worried about her ability to do the job.

“What I’m interested in is a total reset, put some stuff in the past, and actually really work on this relationship because Wellingtonians don’t want us scrapping,” Whanau said.

This year, Whanau planned to increase face time with councillors to provide them opportunities to let off steam to help reduce public frustration.

Whanau said she would emphasise the importance of good behaviour and of not leaking because that’s what lost residents’ trust.

“What I want is to move forward and build a constructive relationship, which I am still committed to.”

Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined NZME in 2023 and is interested in politics, local issues, and the Public Service. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story, he can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz or messaged on X (formerly Twitter) @ethanjmanera