Podcast appearances and mentions of wellington water

Residents in the Wellington suburb of Miramar are disturbed after sewage exploded out of their toilets. Work being done by Wellington Water contractors apparently caused the sewage to back up. It comes after a major failure at the nearby Moa Point water treatment plant earlier this month which has discharged millions of litres of raw sewage into the Cook Strait every day. Kaya Selby reports.

Nick Mills wraps the week with former MP and Attorney General Chris Finlayson and director of NZ Infrastructure Commission and ex councillor Tim Brown. Moa point continues to be an issue. Is it a long time coming? Brown and Finlayson face off on funding, spending and leadership of the plant and Wellington Water. Then they get into the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. What does this unprecedented scene mean for the future of the royals? And things get fiery over Minister Bishop's suggestion the government are reconsidering the state highway 1 improvements. We also get their hot or nots of the week plus former minister Finlayson's thoughts on Seymour's plan to decrease portfolios and merge ministries. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little says everyone is now in the hands of central government, as an inquiry is announced into the catastrophic failure at the Moa Point Water Treatment Plant. A Crown Review team's being appointed to look into the failure of Wellington's wastewater facility. Little was met with clear frustration from locals at a lack of clear answers at a public meeting on the issue in Kilbirnie last night. He told Ryan Bridge people need the chance to express their anger, but says the review is now a matter for ministers. He says they need to figure out what happened as a matter of public confidence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast 2025, The government's ordered an independent review over what happened at Wellington Water's Moa Point, Mayor Andrew Little tells Ryan what he hopes will come out of it. A new report shows business conferences contributed nearly $1 billion to the kiwi economy last year, Business NZ Advocacy Director Catherine Beard shares her thoughts. Contact Energy posted a half year net profit increase of 44% to $205 million, Shareholders Association CEO Oliver Mander provides analysis. Plus, Australia Correspondent Donna Demaio has the latest on the alleged Bondi terror gunman's first court appearance and a major supermarket chain accused of misleading customers, faces court action. Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday Faceoff this week, Nick was joined by former Hutt City Mayor and ex-committee chair of Wellington Water, Campbell Barry, along with broadcaster Mark Sainsbury. They discussed the latest issues and accountability around the Moa Point sewage crisis, Wellington Mayor Andrew Little's pledge to cut commercial rates, the Government's LNG proposals and whether having a degree these days is important. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All eyes are on the government's response to the Moa Point sewage plant meltdown. Wellington Water's chief executive is warning the public the capital's south coast could be off limits for months. Meanwhile the city's mayor wants a ministerial inquiry. Crews have spent the weekend trying to clean up the wastewater plant and get to the damage after it was shut after being flooded by raw sewage. In the meantime, millions of litres of untreated sewage have been spilling out into the Cook Strait since early Wednesday. Nick James reports.

Wellington Water is hoping it'll get a clearer idea of the extent of the damage to the Moa Point Water Treatment Plant in the coming days. Wellington Water Chief Executive Pat Dougherty spoke to Corin Dann.

Moa Point has been testing as non-compliant for all but two months of the last two years. The signs were there, but no one seemed to raise concern before the wastewater plant started pumping raw sewage into the south coast of Wellington. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FIRST WITH YESTERDAY'S NEWS (highlights from the long weekend on Newstalk ZB) Even for Missing Waitangi Day/I Thought School Was All About Judging/Who Can Stop the Poo?/When Privacy Died/Rough Sunday Morning for the Chiefs... and All of UsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Leggett is the Chair of Wellington Water. He joins the show to talk through the latest updates on the Moa Point sewage leak, including how the response is progressing, how long we will have to wait till its safe again and what it means for Wellington's coastline and local communities going forward. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Water's chief executive said an inspection of the the Moa Point wastewater treatment plant today has revealed the damage is as bad as they feared. An equipment breakdown at the plant has flooded the site with untreated sewage which is also pouring into the ocean at a an average rate of about 70 million litres per day. Lauren Crimp has more. 

Revelations Wellington's wastewater treatment plant has been non compliant almost every month for the last two years - after a huge failure yesterday. Heavy rain flooded the Moa Point plant's lower floors, causing it to shut down and millions of litres of sewage to pour into the ocean. Wellington Water Chair Nick Leggett told Heather du Plessis-Allan that there's going to have to be significant money spent on Wellington's plants from now on. He says they haven't had the investment over many years that's needed to keep them up to scratch. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some Wellington beaches are off limits with massive amounts of raw sewage being pumped out to sea after a treatment plant was swamped in contaminated water, during heavy rain. It could take months to repair the damage at the Moa Point treatment plant. During heavy rain last night water backed up in the outfall pipe and flooded the site in metres deep raw sewage. Wellington Water chief executive Pat Dougherty spoke to Lisa Owen.

Wellington Water says about 70 million litres of raw sewage is pouring into the sea every day the Moa Point Wastewater Treatment Plant is out of action. Wellington mayor Andrew Little spoke to Corin Dann.

Wellington Mayor Andrew Little says critical damage to the city's wastewater treatment plant couldn't come at a worse time. Heavy rain flooded the building's lower floors causing sewage to leak into Tarakena Bay, writing off equipment and forcing the plant to shut down. Wellington Water says it could take months to fix and urges people to stay off beaches along the south coast, and avoid collecting seafood. He told Mike Hosking the failure appeared to be a “freak thing”, and since becoming mayor, nobody had ever indicated to him that the treatment plant was at risk. He says there's been ongoing investment in it, and they have contractors looking after all the rest. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Repairs at Wellington's Moa Point treatment plant could take months, as raw sewage flows into the region's southern coastline. An equipment failure caused the outfall pipe to become backed up with water - with last night's heavy rain flooding the building's lower floors. Wellington Water says electrical equipment's submerged and some areas are inaccessible. Chief executive Pat Dougherty says it's likely something bigger is wrong with the outflow pipe, but investigations are still ongoing. "The real problem is the damage the water has done, it's huge amounts of wastewater poured through the plant. We've got control panels underwater, we've got electrical equipment underwater...and we've got no power." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A grim prediction, as Wellington Water crews return to the city's wastewater treatment plant to determine what's caused Wednesday's catastrophic failure. Heavy rain's caused the Moa Point plant to shutdown, sending wastewater into the capital's South Coast. Crews are trying to ascertain the full impact of the flooding on the equipment and operations. Wellington Water CEO Pat Dougherty told Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills it'll be months before people can safely go in the water, as sewage floods out to sea. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Wellington City Councillor says he's frustrated to see yet another example of the capital's water infrastructure failing. Heavy rain flooded the city's wastewater treatment plant's lower floors, causing sewage to leak into Tarakena Bay, writing off equipment and forcing the plant to shut down. Untreated wastewater is currently flowing into the southern coast, with Wellington Water saying it could take days to fix. Wellington Eastern Ward Councillor Sam O'Brien told Ryan Bridge it's an ongoing issue, and this isn't an isolated thing. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local councils will have to foot the $48 billion bill for the Government's new water reform ‘Local Water Done Well'. Nick Mills talks with Chairman of Tiaki Wai Metro Water Will Peets on how the reforms will work. They discuss the effects on ratepayers, how the bills will work, the change from Wellington Water and the appointment of new CEO Michael Brewer. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New numbers show that daily water loss in Wellington City has dropped by around 11 million litres per day - that's four Olympic swimming pools saved every single day. Wellington Water chairperson Nick Leggett spoke to Corin Dann.

Wellington's metropolitan councils have agreed to replace beleaguered Wellington Water with a new stand-alone entity. Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry, who chairs the Wellington Water Committee, says unlike Wellington Water, the new entity will own the infrastructure itself. He spoke to Corin Dann.

Tom discusses the latest events in Te Whanganui-a-Tara including local government update and the missing Wellington Water report.

Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and Thomas Scrimgeour from the Maxim Institute joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Wellington Water has copped backlash over spending significant amounts on wellness-based perks for their employees. What do we make of this? Former Labour leader Andrew Little has announced his intention to run for mayor of Wellington. Is this a good move? Will he get votes? The Maori Party wants Maori to get NZ Super 7-10 years before everyone else and Labour is refusing to say whether it would agree. The Greens are on board with giving some parts of society Super earlier. Is this the best look? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Water's boss is defending spending ratepayer money on skincare for staff and mindfulness workshops. The under-fire agency has confirmed it spent more than $10,000 on wellbeing workshops in the recent financial year - including nutritionists and skin checks. Chief Executive Pat Dougherty says it's important to be a caring employer. "Good staff are hard to find - you'll want to attract them and keep them." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom updates Kathryn on the latest issues in Wellington including the controversy surrounding Wellington Water, the Crown observer's latest report, the council's proposed plan to charge commercial rates to short term rentals like Airbnb, and the upcoming local body elections.

I sort of hinted at this the other day when the monitor for the Wellington City Council put out his second report. My question was, given there was leaking and dysfunction and the punter was at their wits end, what now for Wellington? Do we just get more reports? Well, lo and behold, another Wellington operation has their own monitor in the form of the Commerce Commission who have been brought in to oversee the mess at Wellington Water. The Minister has not seen any improvement, there's been no real change and unless stuff happens, there are rate rises galore for no real gain. So once again we can ask, what do the Commerce Commission do? Do they write reports too? If those reports tell us the place is still a shambles, how many reports does it take for someone, somewhere, to actually fire up a bit of action? I can also add, and this is an overarching observation, just how dysfunctional does Wellington need to get before it literally implodes on itself? The electorate changes last week were all in Wellington. Why? Because people have left and, to be frank, who can blame them? Then we come to Tamatha Paul, who made what most observers seemed to suggest was one of the most extraordinary comments about police anyone had ever heard. Her good friends in Labour called them stupid. The Prime Minister called her insane. Yet she holds an electorate. The good people of Wellington central, and by no small margin I might add, looked at her credentials and decided they liked her enough to vote for her. So Wellington, what's the story? What level of madness and dysfunction are you willing to tolerate before change comes? Is change ever coming? Do you actually want change? Do you mind paying a lot more than you need to for stuff that doesn't work? Is a crummy council, a lot of broken pipes and a mad MP OK, as long as your cycleways are fun to ride on? Oh, did I mention the trains? You can't beat Wellington on a good day. When, Wellington, was your last good day and why are you putting up with it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government is calling in the Commerce Commission to help fix Wellington's water issues. This means Wellington Water will have to report details of its financial management to the Commerce Commission, and the commission will make sure that Wellington ratepayers aren't getting ripped off. How exactly are they going to do it? Local Government Minister Simon Watts talks to Ryan Bridge about the details. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 28 March 2025, the Government's called in the Commerce Commission to deal with concerns with Wellington Water's management. How does the government feel about stomping up money for Auckland's Eden Park? Royal correspondent Juliet Rieden speaks to Ryan Bridge about King Charles' hospital admission after cancer treatment side effects. Plus, Ryan reveals his gardening faux pas and why someone tried to steal his lawnmower. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Water Chair Nick Leggett says he's not going anywhere. The mayors of Wellington and Upper Hutt - Tory Whanau and Wayne Guppy - both say they have no confidence in him. A recent critical report found the organisation was potentially wasting millions of dollars on infrastructure contracts. Leggett says he'd like Wellington to transition to a different water entity. "That owns its own assets, can raise money off those assets and get good value for the money it spends and get them replaced as soon as possible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Water's Board Chair is has held on to his job for now after Monday's extraordinary meeting with the water company's leadership group. Reporter Nick James spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Wellington Water's boss says local councils have every right to be angry at them. Tory Whanau yesterday described her council's relationship with the organisation as “tense” at a special meeting, following revelations last week it wasn't getting value for ratepayers' money. Wellington Water CEO Pat Dougherty told Mike Hosking he and his staff are doing everything they can to find the issues and fix them. He says there's been a culture of putting too much trust in their contractors, and he wants a more tense and accountable relationship. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington's mayor, and most of the city councillors, called for the Wellington Water board chair to resign last week in the wake of two scathing reports. Councillors will discuss the future of Nick Leggett at an extraordinary meeting on Monday. Councillor Diane Calvert spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Leaders in the Wellington region will discuss the future of the Wellington Water Board Chair on Monday at an extraordinary meeting. Councillor Nikau Wi Neera spoke to Corin Dann.

Porirua mayor Anita Baker says the proposed `kangaroo court' targeted at the Wellington Water chair is a disgrace. 

Wellington's Mayor Tory Whanau and the majority of the city's councillors have called for Wellington Water chair Nick Leggett to resign over what they call severe failings and 'millions of dollars wasted'.

There are calls for Wellington Water's boss to resign as the embattled organisation faces the prospect of legal action. The fallout from two scathing reports into the water provider is coming thick and fast after they found the region's ratepayers are being charged three times as much for water repairs as other areas of the country. Wellington issues reporter Nick James reports.

Wellington Water released a scathing report on Monday pointing, among other things, to poor value for money from contractors. Civil Contractors New Zealand chief executive Alan Pollard spoke to Corin Dann.

The fallout from damning Wellington Water reports is ramping up. Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy, Porirua deputy mayor Kylie Wihapi, and Wellington City councillor Ben McNulty spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

On today's episode, Donald Trump is set to address a joint session of congress where he'll outline his agenda on immigration, the economy, and his approach to Ukraine, Ukraine President Vlodymyr Zelensky has released a statement in response to Donald Trump's withdrawal of US military aid, and the fallout from damning Wellington Water reports is ramping up.

The Corrections Minister says a report on prison culture doesn't say anything the Government doesn't already know. The report from Independent Research Solutions says the influence of gangs in prison has grown significantly in the past decades, with non-members lower in the social hierarchy. It finds 35% of inmates are in voluntary segregation. Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking prisons are a microcosm of society, and gangs are known for their intimidation tactics in the community. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Treasury's chief economist gives a house price prediction, while a relatively unknown Canadian billionaire is taking a larger stake in NZ Herald's listed owner NZME. Dan also discusses Trump's crypto plays and how Wellingtonians ended up paying three times what other regions are paying for water repairs.

There is growing anger in Wellington over revelations the capital's ratepayers have been paying nearly three times more for water repairs than in other parts of the country. 

Wellington Water board Chair admits the relationship between the organisation and its contractors got too friendly. The comments follow a scathing report, showing the the cost of unplanned water pipe repairs in the Wellington region is three times higher than in other regions. A probe has uncovered poor value for money from contractors, loose financial controls and even one case of alleged theft. Bill Hickman reports.

An urgent meeting of the Advisory Oversight Committee has been called for Tuesday morning to discuss Monday's scathing report on Wellington Water. Wellington Water board chairperson Nick Leggett spoke to Alexa Cook.

An urgent meeting is being held in Wellington to look at Monday's highly critical report into Wellington Water. Reporter Nick James spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

On today's episode, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says New Zealand is standing up for the international rules-based order in supporting Ukraine and that position hasn't changed, the government is promising a $285 million "uplift" that will bring in a hundred new foreign-trained doctors into the primary care workforce, an urgent meeting of the Advisory Oversight Committee has been called for Tuesday morning to discuss Monday's scathing report on Wellington Water, and Neon's low budget film Anora and filmmaker Sean Baker ruled the night at the 97th Academy Awards, winning five trophies.

The Upper Hutt Mayor says it was obvious the region's water agency was ripping off ratepayers for a long time. Report findings show a lack of oversight meant Wellington Water was paying nearly three times more to contractors for pipe work, compared with in other areas. Board Chair Nick Leggett says it means millions of ratepayer dollars wasted. Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy says Leggett must resign. He told Mike Hosking his council smelt a rat for years, but their concerns fell on deaf ears. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chair of Wellington Water says he's considering stepping down, after a scathing report uncovered more organisational failures. It highlights a lack of oversight in contracting work, with pipe maintenance work paid at nearly three times the comparable council rate. Nick Leggett says he'll step down if the region's mayors want him to but he has acted on the issues in question. "What we've tried to do is lift the lid on that - be honest and upfront. There wasn't the right competitive tension to get the best value for ratepayers, the internal systems for the organisation, the financial checks - those kind of processes were appalling." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the Wellington region's busiest roads, State Highway Two through the Hutt Valley will be severely disrupted when Wellington Water digs up an aging sewerage pipe that runs under it. Nick James reports.

Wellington's Water says the risk of water restrictions this summer has diminished. But it still wants households and businesses to be careful.