Ebikes, Housing, and Failing Uni: An Exclusive Chat with Pōneke's New Mayor
Words by Ethan Manera (he/him)
A year ago, Tory Whanau was unknown to most Wellingtonians. But after a landslide victory, Wellington has a new mayor who says she's dedicated to making this city better for students.
Salient went to the mayor’s office to learn more about the wahine leading our city and hold her to account on her promises to Wellington's rangatahi.
As an alum of Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Whanau started by telling us about her days as a student. A self-described “hardcore” partier, Whanau said she “was hungover a lot of the time”. She worked as an RA in the halls of residence. “We would just go hard, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and the booze was real cheap.”
But the party lifestyle took a toll. Whanau had to pick up two extra jobs to make ends meet, causing her to struggle academically. “I started failing Politics, I didn't have time to study, and I was miserable. Being an RA was actually not a lot of fun at all,” she said.
Whanau said her past struggles as a student help her to relate to students today. “If I can help create better outcomes for our rangatahi [and] the next generation, that's why I'm here.”
When asked about her achievements so far, Whanau admitted that many of the council’s areas of progress so far are on initiatives founded by the previous council. She referenced projects such as enabling a new community housing provider, Let’s Get Wellington Moving, and revitalising Dixon Street.
After campaigning on climate action, Whanau is focused on building Wellington’s climate resilience. She says improving waste management, transport, and housing density are critical. She says she'll be “very much taking guidance” from her close friend and Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw.
Whanau said rolling out more bike lanes to prioritise environmentally-friendly transport has been a controversial issue, but this hasn't stopped her from pushing ahead with the initiative. “We do get quite a bit of backlash from the opponents. But look, I think the election results speak for themselves.” The council has also recently partnered with Flamingo and Beam scooters to implement an electric bike trial around the city.
Whanau made big promises to increase the city's housing affordability. She was also the only mayoral candidate who is a renter. She said that the long term goal is “increasing our [housing] supply” to slow down rent increases.
Under Whanau’s leadership, the council announced a large rates increase of 12.3%, which will see property owners hit with higher costs in 2023. When asked how the council can prevent this increased cost being passed onto renters, Whanau said there isn't a lot the council can do. “I fully sympathise with renters and how they might suffer the impacts of this rates increase.”
The new mayor said she's keen to officially sit down with the new VUW Vice Chancellor to discuss student housing. Whanau recently had an impromptu chat with Nic Smith backstage at an event and was surprised to get along with him as she expected a VC to be “fucking boring”.“I was shocked […] [but] he has a great vibe about him,” she said.
It's still early days for Whanau, who acknowledges the big job ahead of her, but wants to stay mayor for at least three terms. “[It’s] a dream job for me, [it’s] the easiest job I've ever had, and it's because I love it so much [that] I get excited about coming to work.”