Tory Whanau

Tory Awatere Whanau (born 1983) is a New Zealand politician. She was elected mayor of Wellington at the 2022 election. Previously she served as the parliamentary chief of staff for the Green Party.

Whanau is the first person of Māori descent to be mayor of Wellington.

Whanau has ancestors from Pakakohi and Ngāruahine. She was born in Porirua in 1983 and grew up in Cannons Creek, Porirua.Whanau moved with her family to Patea at the age of 8, later attending New Plymouth Girls' High School. Whanau moved to Wellington as an adult to study, and in 2003 won $1.39 million in a Lotto draw, which she used to pay off her parents' mortgage, support her family, and travel. Whanau graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University of Wellington in 2006, and began working in the financial sector. In 2012, she graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Administration in Communication Management from Massey University.

Parliament

Whanau entered politics in 2015 when she worked for the parliamentary wing of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. During the 2017 general election, she was the party's digital director and became acting chief of staff when Deborah Morris-Travers resigned in August 2017. After the 2017 and 2020 elections, Whanau was a member of the Green Party's team in the negotiations that led to the formations of the resulting government. Whanau resigned as chief of staff in August 2021, intending to form a public relations consultancy firm with Matthew Tukaki, Deborah Mahuta-Coyle and Nevada Halbert, but instead joined the firm Capital Government Relations.

Mayor of Wellington

Whanau announced her intention on 18 November 2021 to run for the Wellington mayoralty in the 2022 election, and formally launched her campaign on 30 June 2022. She ran as an independent, endorsed by the Green party. She gained the mayoralty with 34,462 votes after the distribution of preferences, more than twice those gained by the incumbent Andy Foster.

Whanau's stated policy platform was "Fixing our pipes; More warm, dry homes for all; More efficient public transport options; Mental health support, alcohol and harm reduction; Safer streets; Arts and culture revitalisation; Business support; Climate action." She was seen as one of the few progressive candidates to gain mayoral office in the 2022 local elections, with most New Zealand territorial authorities swinging to conservative candidates.

Following the 2022 Wellington local elections, Whanau reduced the number of full council committees on the Wellington City Council from five to three. Following a month of negotiations and restructuring, she appointed several Labour and Green councillors as chairs of these three council committees (Rebecca Matthews, Teri O'Neill and Tamatha Paul). Whanau did not renew her Green membership when it came up for renewal in November 2022. Georgina Campbell from The New Zealand Herald wrote that this was in order to build better relationships with independent councillors without a formal party membership.

In May 2023, she was criticised for not appearing at various local functions; for example, a meeting of regional mayors in Carterton to discuss the Water Services Reform Programme.

In November 2023, Whanau reversed her previous opposition to the Wellington City Council selling its 34 percent stake in Wellington Airport to cover the Council's financial deficit. On 9 November, Whanau and a majority of councillors voted to consult the public about the plan. In addition, Whanau and her fellow councillors voted unanimously to scrap NZ$230 million worth of repairs to Te Ngākau Civic Square and the City to Sea Bridge, and to scrap about NZ$35 million worth of funding for cycleways and footpaths.

Alcoholism

In early July 2023, on a Friday evening, Whanau attracted media attention after she seemed intoxicated, upon entry, to employees, then became more intoxicated, at the venue, at "The Old Quarter" restaurant in Dixon Street on 30 June and left without paying her bill. Restaurant staff refused to serve her due to her intoxicated state. Whanau admitted not paying her bill and being "tipsy" but denied that she had acted confrontationally towards staff members, including asking if they knew who she was. The bill was subsequently paid on 1 July. The restaurant attracted criticism and calls for a boycott for allegedly breaching Whanau's privacy. In response, "The Old Quarter" confirmed that they had not broken Whanau's story to the media but had responded to media queries.

On 18 November 2023, Whanau was seen intoxicated at Wellington’s Havana Bar. Almost two weeks later, she released a written statement which admitted a drinking problem and that she was seeking professional help.

2023 pet dog controversy

On 19 July 2023, The Post reported that Whanau had breached the Wellington City Council's tenancy agreement by bringing her pet Staffordshire bull terrier "Teddy" to her mayoral office. The Council confirmed that their landlord did not allow pets on the premises but that they had not received a complaint from the landlord. Whanau's decision to bring her dog to work attracted criticism from Wellington councillor Nicola Young, who said "that other councillors who own dogs felt there shouldn't be separate rules for everyone else." Following media coverage, Whanau confirmed that Teddy would be rehoused with her relatives outside Wellington. In addition, Whanau also received offers of support from a pet daycare, family and friends to house Teddy.