Christopher Luxon hits out at Wellington City Council
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Wellington City Council has too much party politics around the table, and needs to focus on solutions for the city.
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Wellington City Council has too much party politics around the table, and needs to focus on solutions for the city.
NOW PLAYING • Christopher Luxon hits out at Wellington City Council
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says Wellington City Council has too much party politics around the table, and needs to focus on solutions for the city.
A social media post by a group affiliated with Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung has labelled a Wellington City councillor “one of the mental, extreme communist trans-loving ... Green Party retards”.
The now-deleted post by political campaign group Better Wellington took aim at current councillor Rebecca Matthews.
“Message to voters in Onslow-Western ward,” the post said. “It’s time to throw out the Trash!”
It continued, saying Matthews “used to be a socialist Labour Party appointee and is now one of the mental, extreme communist trans-loving (like the guy who shot Charlie Kirk) Green Party retards”.
The statement finished by saying: “Throw this grift monkey to the wind and evict her from council.”
“I am disappointed that this is the standard some people have dropped to, and I think most Wellingtonians will see through this nonsense and reject it.”
Earlier this year, Better Wellington established a ticket of candidates to contest seats on Wellington City Council in this year’s election.
The group, named Independent Together, is led by mayoral candidate Ray Chung.
“This team of skilled, experienced and vibrant people is an impressive line-up to contest the Wellington City Council elections,” Better Wellington says of Independent Together on its website.
“They stand for ZERO RATES INCREASES, NO PARTY POLITICS and getting the council BACK TO BASICS.”
When contacted by the Herald about the post, Glenn Inwood, a former whaling lobbyist and political communications operative behind the group, said they chose to delete it after being asked by a few respected members.
“While reluctant to do so, we decided that we didn’t want to upset the people who liked what we do,” Inwood said.
He would not say who personally made the post, or who asked for it be taken down.
“It just so happens in this instance that the post was a woman, we’ve made similar posts about male candidates. They all cry victim when questioned ... that’s how precious and sanctimonious these candidates are.
“Better Wellington as a group, as a whole, had no objection to the content,” Inwood said, and it was made to draw attention to the “fringe” views of the Green Party and “an example of leftist politics”.
“The Green Party today is a chimera. It’s an asylum. It’s a twisted version of the party founded by Rod Donald and Jeanette Fitzsimons.”
An email has emerged in which Wellington mayoral hopeful Ray Chung (inset) has falsely described current Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau in a drugs and sex romp.
Inwood said he had spoken to Chung about the post, who was glad it was taken down.
Chung’s campaign has been marred by controversy, most notably over a gossip-filled email about Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau.
Whanau has said rumours like those spread by Chung were part of highly-sexualised dialogue aimed at her – and other female politicians – to demean them and undermine their roles.
Voting has opened for the local body elections and closes at noon on Saturday, October 11. Provisional results will be released the same day with the final results declared on October 16.
