Wellington city council has voted to explore selling its 34% stake in Wellington International Airport, subject to public consultation.

The council will also look to sell a number of ground leases in the centre city. The assets will be converted into a green investment fund, focused on more diversified investments outside the city.

Mayor Tory Whanau insisted the sale was not intended to pay down debt to fund other spending.

“Let me be clear – I will never lead a city that sells airport shares to pay down debt. I have never supported selling the silverware to pay the mortgage.”

“Wellington city council must reshape its investment so it’s more resilient and diversified.”

Councillor Tony Randle said he was concerned about earthquake risk. “For me, it’s not about getting the best rate of return or the most strategic assets, it’s about making sure this council can react when the big one hits. If we get a magnitude 7 or 8 earthquake, I’m not sure Wellington airport shares will have much value.”

Councillor Tim Brown, the former chair of the airport, was one of the more aggressive supporters of the sale. “Anybody is opposed to this is effectively willing to be utterly irresponsible with the assets of this city,” he said.

The vote for the airport sale was a strong majority, with only four Labour councillors opposed: Teri O’Neil, Ben McNulty, Rebecca Matthews, and Nureddin Abdurahman.

The board of the Electoral Commission will order an independent review after the Commission discovered 21 further examples of data entry errors as part of the vote count for the 2023 election. The mistakes, none of which affect the overall results or electorate winners, include 15 voting places with minor data entry errors, five voting places that recorded election day votes as advance votes and one electorate where data for “a small number” of special votes was incorrectly entered.

The check was undertaken after NZ Herald data journalists revealed on Tuesday that three voting places had reported erroneous tallies. The most substantial error saw 620 votes in the East Coast electorate that had been included in the preliminary count missing from the official count.

A total of 693 votes have added to the overall party vote count. Candidate votes have increased by 708. None of the errors impact electorates where judicial recounts are under way, said the commission.

“We have corrected the errors found. These are small in scale and do not affect the overall results or allocation of seats. We apologise for these errors. It is disappointing they were not picked up in the quality assurance processes and falls short of our expectations,” said chief electoral officer Karl Le Quesne.

He said: ““There are quality assurance steps across the counting, data entry and reporting processes that have been applied. People should have confidence in the integrity of the official count and the amended results,” says.

Jane Meares, acting chair of the Electoral Commission board, said the review would look at “the quality assurance processes in place and what improvements can be made to ensure this doesn’t happen again”.

It looks like the long-running actors strike will come to an end, with negotiators for SAG-AFTRA agreeing to a tentative deal.

At this point, the strike, which is the longest running of its kind in Hollywood history, will conclude at midnight Thursday morning US time.

While it’s been agreed to by the negotiating committee for the union, it must now be approved by the national board of SAG-AFTRA.

According to Variety, “finishing touches” were made to the deal over the last several days with both sides attempting to get the agreement over the line.

The leaders of National, Act and New Zealand First are all in Wellington, though it’s not yet known if all three will meet together for the first time.

Newshub has reported that Act’s David Seymour has headed to the capital for further talks with National. Meanwhile, Winston Peters and NZ First will also be meeting with the National Party today.

Seymour wouldn’t reveal whether he was expecting a three-way meet, but said: “We’ve reached out in various ways so [it] remains to be seen but we’re here and we’re ready to talk.”

Meanwhile, Peters has fronted to media for the first time since coalition talks got under way. He hosted an impromptu press conference outside his offices in Wellington.

Until now, Peters has generally avoided questions, at least in a press conference style, and given limited interviews.

He told reporters coalition talks were “substantive [and] progressive” but signalled that they were taking a while because of the need for National to be negotiating with two separate parties.

“Speed is of the essence. We are not wasting time here. Some of us would like to get back home. We have got other things to do. We have been on the trail for two-and-a-half years,” said Peters.

A senior Labour MP and outgoing minister has been accused of bullying a teenage girl, allegedly telling her she didn’t do enough volunteering and blaming her for losing her seat.

Ginny Andersen has been returned to parliament as a list MP but lost the Hutt South electorate to National’s Chris Bishop.

According to a Newshub report, the complaint came from a parent who has claimed that Andersen yelled at her children who had volunteered during the election campaign. Similar reports have been published by other media outlets such as Stuff.

It’s been alleged that Andersen blamed the teen for her election loss, saying they had not volunteered enough during the campaign. On another occasion, she was said to have called the teen “useless”.

“I’m aware a complaint has been made about comments I’ve made in the past,” Andersen said in a statement. “I’m really sorry if my comments caused hurt… I’m committed to fully engage in the Labour Party process to resolve the matter.”

The Labour Party has received a complaint about the matter.

The Court of Appeal has quashed the convictions of three businessman found guilty in relation to donations to the National Party.

The case stems back to a $100,000 donation to National in 2017 that was split into sums below $15,000 in order to avoid the disclosure requirements.

In 2022, businessman Yikun Zhang and twin brothers Colin and Joe Zheng were found guilty of using a fraudulent device, trick or stratagem to deceive in relation. Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross was involved in that same trial but avoided a conviction, as reported by The Spinoff’s Toby Manhire at the time.

Stuff has reported today that Zhang, Colin Zheng and Joe Zheng have all had their convictions dumped, with no retrial ordered.

Our Wellington editor Joel MacManus has undertaken the foolish task of live-blogging an entire council meeting, start to finish.

His live blog is under way already and can be found here. And there has already been a mega revelation, with reports the capital’s iconic City to Sea Bridge could be demolished.

“[The bridge] needs $52 million for repairs, plus another $103 million for the former Capital E building that sits underneath it. After the cost blowout on the Town Hall, it is increasingly politically unpalatable to throw money at earthquake-damaged structures,” wrote MacManus.

“Councillor Tony Randle has emailed his intention to raise an amendment to demolish the bridge, and I’ve been told mayor Tory Whanau may support the idea as well.”

The news follows reports from yesterday that repairs to the capital’s Civic Square could cost $240 million on top of the $330m allocated for the town hall

As a reformed Wellingtonian, it’s really sad hearing these near constant reports of either a) severe cost blowouts or b) possible demolitions in the city. Nevertheless, in this case, I can’t help but wonder if there’d be more public affection for the bridge than the nearby town hall?

If you missed out in the first lottery for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Australian shows in the new year, you could be in luck.

Promoters of the Eras Tour have announced additional seats for all Melbourne and Sydney shows.

You’ll probably still have to endure the terrifying lottery experience, which Alex Casey and myself wrote about earlier in the year, but maybe it will be worth it? Or, as Casey wrote as well, perhaps you should just try and see the show in cinemas for a front row experience.

According to the press release: Limited tickets across all the Australian concert dates will be available from Friday 10 November at 10am for Sydney and 4pm for Melbourne (both Australian times) at taylorswift.ticketek.com.au, until allocations are exhausted. It includes partially-obstructed side view tickets from $79.90.

Meanwhile, some fans travelling to Sydney for the concerts (myself included) are fuming after AirAsia cancelled its Auckland to Sydney service. Stuff has all the info here.

Carmel Sepuloni and Gerry Brownlee have arrived in Rarotonga for the Pacific Islands Forum (Pif). Seuploni has given the duo the nickname “Caramel Brownie”, which is perhaps an attempt to convey a sense of unity without straying too near the closeness denoted in the more technical portmanteaus bestowed upon couples or duos (Bennifer, Gracinda, Bishola).

As Newsroom’s Marc Daalder reports, Sepuloni has conceded that she has less power to make commitments than she would otherwise. Brownlee can not technically speak as a representative of our government. As we know, our incoming prime minister, Christopher Luxon, is occupied by coalition negotiations. The prime ministers of Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea are also not attending. Australia’s Anthony Albanese will be there, fresh from his trip to Beijing, the first by an Australian prime minister in seven years.

The influence of China in the region and the climate crisis are on the agenda. The Israel-Hamas war may also come up with the majority of Pacific Island countries voting against a UN resolution for a ceasefire last month, aligning their vote with the US and UK.  RNZ’s Lydia Lewis has a good rundown on what to expect at the Pif this year.

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The recently elected MPs for Tāmaki Makaurau, Mt Albert and Nelson have another nervous wait ahead of them with formal recounts ordered.

It’s not surprise: these were the three electorates with the three slimmest margins in the country after last Friday’s confirmation of the overall election outcome.

In Tāmaki Makaurau, Labour’s Peeni Henare lost by just four votes – though he will remain in parliament as a list MP regardless of the outcome. Te Pāti Māori’s Takutai Tarsh Kemp’s political future hangs on whether her razor-thin lead holds on.

In Mount Albert, Labour’s Helen White shredded the 21,000 majority that Jacinda Ardern wielded after the 2020 election. After the special votes, she had held onto the Labour stronghold by just 20 votes, which is well within the margin of error.

White has remained defensive of her performance in the seat. “I’m proud of winning the seat and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got,” White told reporters earlier in the week. “I’ll work really hard there. I come from there I’ll work hard there, I’ll give it my best.”

Last night, an email was leaked to Newshub’s Amelia Wade by a Mount Albert Labour volunteer frustrated that the poor showing in the seat was being blamed on outgoing PM Chris Hipkins. The email showed Hipkins on the “chuck” list.

And in Nelson, Labour’s Rachel Boyack overtook her National competitor Blair Cameron who had won the seat on election night. But she has just a 29 vote majority – again, a lead that could feasibly switch back after a recount.

None of this will change the overall outcome of the election due to our MMP system, however if Te Pāti Māori fails to hold onto Tāmakai Makaurau that would reduce the seat overhang by one.

According to reporting by the Herald, recounts typically take about three or four days but the Electoral Commission has warned the bigger electorates could take up to eight days.