Tory Whanau makes no apologies for ‘ruffling some feathers’, despite personal cost
Much of the vitriol thrown at Tory is because she is a Māori woman.
The level of abhorrent hatred and abuse spat at her highlights a very toxic and sick cultural misogyny in our social media age.
Tory has done the right thing by standing down once Andrew Little threw his hat into the ring, but even as she stands down, she manages to trip up leaving the stage.
Comments like these by Tory help explain that much of her political trouble was self inflicted…
Whanau acknowledged she is doing things ‘backwards’, but said that – despite these challenges – she would not rule out another run for mayor in future.
“This may seem unconventional, but it’s the right thing for me,“ she said, explaining that she hopes to continue advancing the projects she is passionate about at the council table.
“I can still do the mahi, but be a little less in the limelight. It [will] give me enough time to recharge for, you know, perhaps another term as mayor later on.”
“I always did promise two to three terms at council, and I’m going to stick to that. And look, you never know, after one term, Andrew might be over it. I might be like, hey, well, I’ll come back.“
…standing down only to say you might run again comes across as very flakey, which has been a real problem in some of her train wreck interviews.
Sure that flakiness is ‘authentic’, but not in a good way.
Her deplorable political missteps on something as crucial as the Airport sale highlighted that her policies were more aesthetic left than economically left and once she breached that reality all her personal troubles with booze and mental health found little sympathy.
Tory was hamstrung by a dysfunctional Council that had deep debt issues and a lack of infrastructure, Andrew Little will face the same constraints.
Tory still has much to contribute as a legitimate leader of her community and her win is still historic, Andrew Little will need her to be an ally on Council should he win.
That Little has ruled her out as Deputy is a reminder of how things will go down between Labour and the Greens in any future Government.
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At the moment, Wellington City Council politics is a stitch-up. Preoccupation with policy and performative politics is impeding if not preventing operational performance.
Why is it we can’t criticize anyone female or brown legitimately?
Whanau’s tenureship has been mired in controversy, the council is dysfunctional and the city arguably insolvent – while not all her blame the buck does stop with the mayor.
Given the political demographics of Wellington a half competent Greens Mayor would get re-elected with an increased majority – that the left had to twist Little’s hand shows just how dire the situation. To lose the Wellington mayoralty is the political equivalent of losing Mangere in the general election.
Can we not ‘greenwash’ Whanau’s Mayoralty and have the conviction in this case to call a spade a spade with respect to her performance.
Wellingtonians paying significantly higher rates than Auckland, may not agree that this is an issue of gender or ethnicity. We’re the expert pot hole leapers, and suburban geyser jumpers, who witnessed the airport sell-off controversy and the Reading Cinema circus escalating into the mayor getting a lawyer friend to investigate elected WCC councillors for a non-existent breach of confidentiality or some such.
Those cycle lanes all over the place, the business-unfriendly Golden Mile upheaval, and demolishing fine old buildings to make way for shoe box apartments best suited for fun loving singles, would also be controversial regardless of who enabled them.
YOU WILL BE NEEDING THOSE CYCLE LANES SOON AS THIS GOVERNMENT IS GOING TO MAKE IT TOO EXPENSIVE TO OWN A CAR IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS .You know road user charges and fuel tax is going up 12 cents per liter after the next election .Then there is rego increase along with ACC and insurance doubling .Then every second road is going to be tolled or have congestion charges applied .
“the mayor getting a lawyer friend to investigate elected WCC councillors for a non-existent breach of confidentiality”
That to me was the most obscene of her acts. I voted for her and she has been terrible. One train wreck after another and always with an excuse, the final one being “oh maybe I needed to spend time as a councillor first”.
It has nothing to do with her ethnicity or sex in that same way that Andy Foster was crap and it had nothing to do with him being a white male.
I have no doubt though that her future will be bright, with a safe council seat and then a position in central government. After all she has rated her time as mayor as a 9/10 so she must be awesome
Just another female leader attacked by other females who despise any woman who gets to have a go at changing the world around her .Being brown was a double whammy on top of being a female .
She stood no chance as she inherited a bunch of arseholes who were only interested in what they wanted, and like the current government ,forgot they were elected by the people to work for the people .
Boomers refuse to elect anyone willing to face reality. Forty years on infrastructure finally crumbles. Boomers scream blame at Gen-X.
so best gen x get out and vote then instead of being too busy on retail therapy .I think tory might be Gen x but clearly she is not a white male .
Wellington deserves Whanau and shouldn’t be complaining. What did voters expect with a young, inexperienced talker?
She doesnt get all this hate because she is a ‘woman” or “Maori”. She gets it because she is incompetent and totally useless at her job.
The only hate Tania Tapsell gets is from the woke and other Maori.
Saying that she gets it because she is a female and Maori is such a weak argument.
Well you only have to look at the racisim that exploded over 3 waters .Had Minister Mahuta been an old fat white male 3 waters would have been done and dusted and getting on with business and chippie would still be PM .
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