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.

Early life and education
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 in media studies from Victoria University of Wellington in 2006 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Administration in Communication Management from Massey University in 2012.

Career
After graduating from Victoria University of Wellington, Whanau worked for the New Zealand Film Commission as a business affairs and short film assistant. Her career was mainly in marketing and digital communications, with roles with financial services firms such as Axa, TWUSUPER, and Cigna, as well as the New Zealand charity Plunket.

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. Whanau later reversed this decision and rejoined the Green Party in 2024.

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 $230 million worth of repairs to Te Ngākau Civic Square and the City to Sea Bridge, and to scrap about $35 million worth of funding for cycleways and footpaths.

In mid-March 2024, Whanau supported a plan to permit for more housing construction in Wellington by upzoning vast areas of the city. She said this would make housing more affordable and lower emissions.

In April 2024, the Wellington City Council cancelled a NZ$32 million agreement with cinema chain Reading Cinemas to refurbish and earthquake-strengthen its Wellington building, which has been closed since 2019. In 2023, Whanau and the Wellington City Council had approved efforts by Council staff to negotiate the NZ$32 million agreement to refurbish and earthquake-strengthen the Wellington cinema. Whanau described the outcome as "disappointing, but the right one."

In late May 2024, the Wellington City Council voted in favour of divesting its 34% minority stake (worth NZ$278 million) in Wellington Airport, with the proceeds going towards a major disaster investment fund. In response, Whanau said that divestment had not been her preference but that we "had to put political alliances aside and decided what is best for the city."

Personal life
Whanau has struggled with alcoholism. Two incidents related to her alcohol consumption received media attention during her mayoralty. On 30 June 2023, a Friday evening, Whanau appeared to employees to be intoxicated upon entry to The Old Quarter restaurant in Dixon Street. Restaurant staff refused to serve her due to her intoxicated state, and she left without paying her bill. 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 paid the next day, on 1 July. 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.

In April 2024, Whanau was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and "significant traits of autism".