Ryan Bridge: Wellington's endless spending on pen-pushers and reviews

You can't escape bureaucrats in Wellington; it's an occupational hazard. Despite the bad press they get, they're not all useless. But it depends on how you use them, and how often. Take the Golden Mile disaster in Wellington, as just one example. The council agrees to a project it can't afford. Expensive. Crazy. Ratepayers revolt. The cost blows out from $160m to $220m. The blowout is $60m - or 30 disco toilets in Wellington dollars. A new Mayor comes in. A review is ordered. Then enter the reviewers: a nine-person panel, supposedly independent. The review is costing $400k, which is at least one bike rack for cyclists in Wellington dollars. Then yesterday there's a meeting. They basically say this thing is still somehow affordable for Wellington, despite the fact the city can't afford a 50c mix at the dairy at present. Enter the Mayor. The Mayor is asking some questions about mission creep. He's not so subtly suggesting that political judgements are being made by these reviewers. Leave that to the politicians, he says. They want their big project, and they don't care which poor old Wellington ratepayers funds it. This is not entirely the fault of the boffins doing the reviewing. Because, as I understand it, the review was set up not to actually make major changes, just tweaks. Which begs the question: why was a review ever needed at all? And why'd it cost $400k? You either don't want to spend $60m, in which case, don't. Or you do, in which case, do. Why the endless spending on pen-pushers and reviews?

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Ryan Bridge: Wellington's endless spending on pen-pushers and reviews is an episode from Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby by NZME.

This episode is 1:47 long.

This episode was published on May 13, 2026.

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