Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says Luxon's comments are "pretty poor form for the leader of our country". Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The prime minister may think a decision made by Wellington councils is "lame-o", but Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says those comments are poor form and the councils are sticking to their timeline to get it right.
Councils were asked to work alongside others in their respective regions to form and submit proposals for regional deals by 28 February.
The government said at the time it would not be putting money on the table as part of the deals, which would instead increase access to funding and financing tools.
A letter sent to Minister of Local Government Simon Watts from Wellington Regional Leadership Committee chairperson Darrin Apanui and deputy chairperson Daran Ponter - dated 21 February - said despite originally signalling it was keen to submit an application, "with further consideration [the committee has] concluded that we will not be ready to submit a proposal by this date".
On Tuesday, Ponter told RNZ the committee concluded they needed more time, as it did not want to rush through a proposal.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called the fact the Wellington region had not put forward a city or regional deal "lame".
"Well, it's pretty lame-o is my view of it.
"Here we have a government doing everything it can to make sure that we attract capital to this country which has been a problem for a long period of time, and you can't even get Wellington councils to submit a regional or a city deal."
But Whanau said Luxon's comments were poor form.
Whanau said that Wellington City Council Crown observer Lindsay McKenzie provided an update to council officers on 24 February that noted that the Wellington region's current priority was water reform.
She said that report found that from the Department of Internal Affairs' perspective, receiving a regional deal application from Wellington was not an expectation.
"As such, our Wellington councils are rightly focused on water reform first and we will work towards a comprehensive and meaningful regional deal in due course. We're not going to waste our time chasing the mirage of a short-term regional deal.
"With due respect, Prime Minister, we will deliver a deal, it will just be on our timeline. We are determined to get this right."
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