The Wellington mayor and the local government minister are playing two different games, for two different audiences of voters. 

Windbag is The Spinoff’s Wellington issues column, written by Wellington editor Joel MacManus. It’s made possible thanks to the support of The Spinoff Members.

The welcome address by the mayor of the host city at SuperLocal, the Local Government New Zealand Conference, isn’t always a highly political moment. But Wellington mayor Tory Whanau made the most of her opportunity last week, attacking the policies led by local government minister Simeon Brown and prime minister Christopher Luxon. 

“Councils should decide for themselves on the use of Māori wards. We should be able to decide for ourselves how we honour tino rangatiratanga,” she said. Referencing a group of protesters in front of the building, she said, “I agree with those outside that more spaces for Māori is good.” 

Luxon and Brown fired back with much-discussed speeches criticising council spending and announcing plans to restrict council powers. It was interesting how much their speeches weren’t about councils generally, but one council specifically: Wellington City Council. 

Luxon criticised Wellington City Council for building the $180m Tākina convention centre (it was approved under Justin Lester’s mayoralty and had bipartisan support). Brown said he would review transparency and accountability rules, saying, “It is unacceptable that unelected bureaucrats can prevent elected council members from accessing the information needed.” That is a reference to a recent story that claimed Wellington City Council officers were withholding information about the airport sale. Brown’s comments about revenue-capping and cutting “nice-to-have pet projects” seemed pointed at Wellington too; he’s repeatedly criticised the Golden Mile, Thorndon Quay and the city’s cycleway rollout. 

Part of this focus on Wellington is because Auckland and Christchurch councils weren’t at the event. But more directly, Brown and Luxon are trying to create a contrast between their restrained, small government approach and WCC’s Green, woke, big-spending lefties. Brown uses Wellington City Council as a foil, because it is a perfect example of the things he opposes: cycle lanes, decarbonisation, social housing. Wellington City Council has traditionally taken an expansive approach to city development through entities like WellingtonNZ, Creative HQ and Zealandia, and major event venues like Tākina. It’s a message that will play well with middle New Zealand voters by painting Wellingtonians as an out-of-touch “other”. 

The government wants to turn Tory Whanau into the opposition, but that’s not necessarily a problem for Whanau. She seems happy to take the hits and keep taking shots right back at them. This is not necessarily a fight with one winner and one loser. They can both win. Brown and Whanau are not playing on the same field. The Wellington mayoral election and the general election have very different audiences and politics. 

The current government is unpopular among Wellingtonians. Wellington Central is the most left-leaning electorate in New Zealand, and it has been directly hit by public service layoffs. If Whanau can pitch herself as the antithesis of everything the government stands for, frustrated voters may rally behind her in the 2025 local body election. 

It’s notable that Whanau chose Māori wards of all the potential issues to highlight. If the Māori wards referendum happens in conjunction with the local body election, any increase in attention and turnout will only help Whanau. Wellington city isn’t going to vote against a Māori ward, especially when it’s a chance to stick a finger up at the government. It’s such a socially progressive area that it could probably pass even without a single Māori vote, just on the power of white guilt alone. 

There is a not insignificant number of Wellington voters who could be persuaded by a conservative economic message, but will draw the line at voting for a candidate or position they deem to be racist or bigoted. Those voters might be attracted to rightwing candidates like Ray Chung or Karl Tiefenbacher, but could come home to Whanau if the election becomes about social issues and conflict with the government. It’s not often you get to run a council campaign on social issues, and it’s clearly something she would quite like to do.