2022 Wellington City Council election

The election was held using the single transferable vote system. The mayor and 15 councillors were elected across six wards (five general and one māori ward). This was the first election to feature a Māori ward in Wellington.^[2]

The council held a meeting in 2020 to decide on representation considerations such as the voting system and whether a Māori ward should be introduced. Councillor Jill Day introduced an amendment to develop a report on giving mana whenua representatives voting rights and remuneration on council committees. Following the motion several councillors sung a waiata; councillor Sean Rush turned his back on the others for the duration of the waiata. Rush called for a point of order afterwards and said the amendment was out of scope; Foster ruled in Rush's favour. Rush would later apologize to Day.^[3]

The council voted in 2021 11-to-3 for the greater co-governance measures. Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika and Ngāti Toa could appoint a voting representative to most council committees and sub-committees and the iwi would each be paid an amount equal to a councillors salary. It was opposed by councillors Calvert, Sparrow and Young whilst Woolf was absent.^[4] The council later that year voted 13-to-2 to establish a Māori ward, which was opposed by councillors Young and Sparrow.^[5]

Andy Foster was elected mayor of Wellington. Despite Foster's right wing position, a majority centre-left council was elected in the 2019 election.^{[citation needed]}

The Wellington Central Library was closed in 2019 after a report found that the building was earthquake prone and would collapse in conditions similar to the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.^[6] The New Zealand Institute of Architects mounted a campaign to save the library in response to then mayor, Justin Lester's, statement that the building would be demolished.^[7]

The council voted in June 2019 to strengthen the library 14-to-1. This was despite reports that found that upgrading the library would be the more expensive option. Out of fear that the building may be demolished, Heritage New Zealand proposed heritage status for the library in 2020.^[8] Public consultations ran from September to October and although the consensus from the public was to demolish, the council didn't change their decision.^[9] The library was eventually designated a category 1 historic building by Heritage New Zealand, the first building constructed in the 1990s to receive the status.^[10]

Foster proposed selling off the building's office space to offload the earthquake strengthening costs.^[11] The proposal was successful with a 9–6 vote. The privatization faced opposition from all of the Labour councillors, and two of the Green councillors, Iona Pannett and Tamatha Paul. The other two Green councillors, Sarah Free and Laurie Foon, voted in favour of the proposal.^[12]

After the decision Labour councillor Fleur Fitzsimons, who held the libraries portfolio, reported Foster to the Auditor-General for an investigation.^[13] The Green party issued a "please explain" notice to Foon and Free over their votes in favour of privatization and for Foon's vote against increasing the cycling infrastructure budget.^[14] Foster soon after announced an independent review of the council's governance.^[15] The review found that the council had an unfit governance structure, a lack of direction and oversight, and some council staff feeling unsafe in giving free and frank advice.^[16]

Foon and fellow councillor Nicola Young then announced they no longer supported the privatization.^[17] Councillor Fitzsimons motioned for a second vote on the issue, seconded by Young. Foon, Young and Free changed their vote and the library remained in public ownership.^[18][19]

Councillor Malcom Sparrow resigned from the council in 2021 due to a health scare.^[20] Because there was less than a year until the next election, no by-election was held.

Water infrastructure in Wellington was managed by the regional body Wellington Water and was widely seen as inadequate; 40% of the city's water supply was lost in leaks.^[21] 57% of respondents to a Kantar poll cited water infrastructure as their top issue for this election.^[22]

The Sixth Labour Government announced it's plans for water reform in October 2021,^[23] but the implementation was delayed until February 2022.^[24] They finalised the plan in April 2022 and then began implementation. Water management in New Zealand was to be transferred to four larger entities. These entities would be run by a board of councils where they get one vote per 50,000 citizens along with voting members representing iwi.^[25]

When asked about three waters both Whanau and Eagle supported it whereas Foster opposed the reform.^[26]