On Wellington City Council, and the dangers of mistaking disagreement for dysfunction

PLUS: Fast-track bill conflicts mount up; and Gary McCormick on background checks for dangerous items

Summary:

• While the Wellington City Council evidently has problems, they do not meet the threshold for ministerial intervention, and moves in that direction suggest that ordinary democratic disagreement is being viewed as something alarming.

• The conflicts of interest are mounting up for the government’s fast-track bill, indicating that urgent changes are needed to ensure propriety.

• Reports this week suggest that approvals processes for gun licences may not be as stringent as would be desirable.

Stormy times for the capital’s politicians

The threat of being sacked, and replaced with commissioners, hangs over Wellington City councillors, following their numerous and well-publicised difficulties. But while there are reasons to be concerned about the council, any drastic steps would be a contravention of basic democratic principles.

Of course there are precedents, notably the instalment of commissioners at Tauranga City Council lasting much of the past few years. But the bar for central government to effectively suspend local democracy is, as it should be, extremely high. A council has to be unable to fulfil basic functions and pass vital pieces of legislation.

That is not the case in Wellington. Clearly, the council is not operating well: there have been major about-faces on issues like revitalising the shuttered Reading Cinemas complex, personal disputes have spilled into the public arena, and following a chaotic process to first propose and then abandon the sale of its stake in the airport, the council has – according to officials at least – a multi-hundred-million-dollar hole in its finances.