A Wellington city councillor has suggested the mayor’s claims around the Golden Mile come with political baggage.
As reported by The Spinoff, Tory Whanau said that the contract for the beleaguered Golden Mile construction was “literally days away” and that would mean getting it confirmed before the new government was in place. The likely transport minister, Simeon Brown, has made it clear he would scrap the project entirely. But Whanau said he wouldn’t be able to if a contract was in place.
“It’ll be well signed by the time they’re sworn in, as it should be,” she told The Spinoff.
But Diane Calvert told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that Whanau’s comments were, in part, just a way of sticking it to the incoming government. “She’s continually championed the Green agenda no matter whether it was good or bad,” Calvert said.
“It’s an alternative set of facts. Two months ago she said the contract had been signed and then we found out it had not been signed… and now it seems she’s drawing back a bit from what she had said. It’s really hard when comments like that happen for the public to have confidence in the mayor.”
Calvert said the council had also been served with a draft judicial review from a group of Wellingtonians who made it clear they would only formally lodge it if the contract was signed.
There was a “real lack of unity” at council at the moment, said Calvert. “The mayor came on board saying ‘I want unity, I want compromise’… but it’s turned out there is no unity,” she said. “She can’t even talk to a third of the council properly. You don’t always have to agree but if you won’t be prepared to sit down and talk and find some common-ground the city is going to lurch from one disaster to another.”
Meanwhile, Whanau has told The Spinoff this morning she remained absolutely committed to light rail in the capital and had a plan to get support over the line.
“What I’m proposing is that me, Christopher Luxon, Simeon Brown and our local MPs head over to Canberra, Brisbane or Sydney and look at their really successful projects. I am putting it on the table, saying ‘look, let’s go check it out and talk to the people who’ve experienced it.’ The second they’re sworn in, I’m going to put in a request, hopefully for early next year.”