Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Tony Randle: Wellington City Councillor on the appointment of a Crown Observer, the odds of Tory Whanau getting a second term as Mayor

Transcript

Tony Randle: Wellington City Councillor on the appointment of a Crown Observer, the odds of Tory Whanau getting a second term as Mayor · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So they're getting an observer. This is Wellington City Council.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Following the council's decision to make big changes to its
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: long term plan and a failed vote to sell a
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: stake in its airport shares, the Local Government Minister Simon
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Brown will appoint a Crown observer to the local Council
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: following advice from the Department of Internal Affairs. The council
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: has ten working days to respond. Tony Randall's the Wellington
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: City Council. He's with us this morning, Tony.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning. How are you.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'm very well. Thank you. Any rumors on who this
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: observer might be.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, look, just random rumors and Tolly was the name
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: that was thrown at me, just randomly. But I've got
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: no reason to think that it was that it would
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: be her, and I think in fact it may there
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: may not be anyone at the moment, because an observer
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: can't be appointed until after we've responded back to the minister.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you're obviously going to respond favorably.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, oh, yes, that's right. I think the Council accepts
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the Minister's decision and while we might give some feedback
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: on the terms of reference, our principle of having a
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Crown observer is accepted I think by the majority of
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the councilors, and we're going to go from here.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Is Wellington going to elect Tory Faro again?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: No, that's a big decision. I'm not a fan, but
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: you know, election times, who knows. I think she's I
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: think she's had some challenging times and it's you know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: her record isn't necessarily the best record, but also depends
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: who our stands against her.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Of course, the argument that we will go from observer
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: to commissioner I don't think holds much weight. What's your feeling.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, we've got a year to the election.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: I agree, I absolutely agree. I think the threshold for
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a commissioner is that we literally have breached the Local
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Government Act. We haven't done that yet. And the minister's
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: outline though that we're obviously having trouble getting our fin
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: answers and order, and so he's kindly come along and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: said he's going to help us out.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Why are you funding water infrastructure through rates not debt?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, that's an interesting claim and I can't get my
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: head around exactly what he's saying. I do know though,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: that we need to cut some of our projects and
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: that we aren't forty funding all the money that Wellington
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Water would wind us to fund. Water is not the
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: top priority and it should be and we're going to
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: get there, I think through this long term and amendment.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Tony. Thank you very much for being on the show
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: this morning. Great to have you Tony Randall. See I
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: told you he was good Wellington City councilor they do exist,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: good Wellington City councilors. For more from Early Edition with
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news talks. It'd be from
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio