Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills on Tory Whanau's Mayoral tenure
Well, one more day as Mayor for Tory Whanau – the “accidental mayor,” as many have called her – and just like that, her chapter in Wellington politics closes. What a ride, and what a mess. And, let’s be honest, what a disappointment. From the very beginning, Tory framed her leadership through a lens of identity – “poor me, give me a break, I’m a woman, and I’m new.” That became her shield, her excuse, and, in many ways, the story of her mayoralty. When she campaigned, it was all about team building, collaboration, bringing the city together behind a shared vision. It sounded good. It sounded hopeful. But in reality? It never happened. She surrounded herself with sycophants - people who told her what she wanted to hear, not what she needed to hear. Around the council table, she isolated herself, cut off critics, and created a bunker mentality. That’s fatal for a city that needed leadership more than ever. Now to be fair, and I want to be fair, Tory didn’t have an easy ride. She came in at the worst possible time: cost-of-living pressures, broken pipes, crumbling infrastructure, council debt spiralling out of control. Whoever wore the chain was going to struggle. But that doesn’t excuse the way she handled it. Time and again, she ran from the hard stuff. She ducked responsibility. She even abandoned her monthly commitment on Newstalk ZB's Wellington Mornings – not because she lacked the time, but because she was advised not to face the heat. That’s not leadership. That’s avoidance. Wellington paid the price. Instead of a steady hand, we got chaos. Instead of strong decision-making, we got excuses. Instead of a mayor who could rally councillors and the public, we got someone who shrank from scrutiny. And then, in her final council speech on Wednesday , we got the encore: the blame game. Whanau used her last act in office to highlight the abuse she’s faced – and yes, some of it was vile, unacceptable, and personal. She cited lewd rumours, online harassment, and sexist behaviour from councillors like Ray Chung. She demanded change to fix what she called a toxic council culture. "To those who created those challenges, thank you. Whether it was members around this very table feeding defamatory rumours to the media, whether it was some media reporting on defamatory rumours as fact, whether it was better Wellington harassing our elected members, or members of Vision for Wellington lobbying government for intervention, even though they were supposedly apolitical," Whanau said. "Whether it's previous mayors or elected members who criticised this council for high rates, even though it was their decisions and underinvestment who caused them, leaving us to pick up the bill.” She said. Fair enough. Abuse and misogyny in politics must be called out. No one should face that. But here’s the thing: while Tory was naming names and pointing fingers, Wellington was still left with broken pipes, spiralling rates, and a city in crisis. Cycleways in places we did not want or need, that’s the part that never got fixed. She tried. She gave it a go. But giving it a go isn’t enough when you’re in charge of a capital city. We needed toughness, vision, competence. We got hype, we got controversy, and we got a legacy that will be remembered for what it didn’t deliver. So today, Wellington turns the page. Tory Whanau came, she stumbled, and she left. The “accidental mayor” is no longer. And the question now is simple: who’s going to pick up the pieces and finally give this city the leadership it’s been crying out for? There's no doubt that she, and other female politicians are dealing with an unjust abuse. But she still had to power through and she had to be a leader. And I don't think she did that successfully. I wish Tory Whanau all the best, I enjoyed our conversations but I am disappointed she took advice not to communicate to our city.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
