Wellington ratepayers must be fully consulted on all costs related to managing Watts Peninsula before councillors make any decision on the future of this land, say the Independent Together candidates.
The outgoing radical left council is in a desperate panic to ram through a decision on Watts Peninsula before the October election, because they know this shady deal will not survive once the people have their say.
The land is owned by the New Zealand taxpayer through the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Corrections. Yet the council wants to take control and dump the massive ongoing costs onto Wellington ratepayers.
“The city council is looking to bind ratepayers to another added cost of between $750,000 and $1 million a year – or even more – to manage this land, even though the government has not yet decided exactly what it wants to do with it,” says Mayoral Candidate and councillor Ray Chung.
The council and local iwi have proposed joint management of the land, with the entire cost forced onto Wellington ratepayers while iwi contribute nothing. This is the same divisive co-governance agenda that has already proven to be a massive drain on ratepayers across the country. Furthermore, the public has been given no information on how representatives will be chosen to control this land or how long they will serve. Critical details are being deliberately hidden from ratepayers because the truth would kill this deal.
“The proposal has almost no detail, yet council wants to urgently approve this deal behind closed doors,” Ray says. “Land that is already owned and managed by the government will now become yet another burden on Wellington ratepayers for no extra benefit whatsoever. This is nothing but a transfer of power and cost from central government to ratepayers.”
Independent Together Eastern Ward candidates Michelle McGuire and Ken Ah Kuoi say the current council is in no position to make such a far-reaching decision only weeks before an election, especially when it is divided and driven by party political and radical ideological agendas.
“Proponents of this deal are engaged in outright deception, trying to convince ratepayers that the city is getting a good deal. What is currently paid for by taxes will soon be paid for by rates. The council is simply moving the cost from the right pocket to the left pocket in a classic socialist theft and bait-and-switch,” Michelle McGuire says.
“A decision on the future of Watts Peninsula should be delayed until after this year’s local government election, and only made after comprehensive and meaningful community consultation is held,” she says.
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