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Wellington Mayor��Tory Whanau��has missed half of��Wellington International Airport’s��board meetings in the past year.����

The��Wellington City Council��owns 34 per cent of the airport and Infratil owns the remaining 66 per cent.��The council is proposing to sell its share, worth $278 million.����

Whanau, who sits on the airport’s board of directors representing the council, attended only four of eight meetings in the past year.����

It follows criticism early in her tenure about absences from civic events and meetings, including a meeting of the regional mayors forum. At that time,��she said the focus on her attendance was undue, and largely because people didn’t like what she represented as a young Māori woman in council.����

The airport’s annual report, published this week, reveals Whanau has the lowest attendance of all seven directors.����

Former Wellington Mayor Andy Foster was��previously criticised for missing three out of seven meetings in 2021.����

A governance expert said at the time that type of attendance record implied the director was not taking the appointment seriously.��

Whanau missed three consecutive meetings between August and December 2023.��

A spokeswoman for Whanau said this was due to “clashes with other business”.��

These clashes included the council’s Audit and Risk Committee and a meeting with Sir Bob Harvey and Gareth Hayman, the Local Government New Zealand National Council Strategy Day, and attending an annual board meeting for the Thomas George Macarthy Trust.��

The fourth meeting Whanau did not attend was due to sickness.��

“The mayor has to juggle an incredibly busy schedule where unavoidable clashes are common”, the spokeswoman said. “For those meetings not attended by the mayor a representative from WCC has attended in her place.”��

Annual remuneration of $86,915 is provided for Whanau’s role on the board, but the spokeswoman said the mayor did not receive this personally.��

Wellington Airport declined to comment on Whanau’s attendance record.��

The Wellington City Council has two seats on the airport’s board.��

Wayne Eagleson, former chief of staff to Prime Ministers John Key and Bill English, is the council’s second appointment. Eagleson has attended all eight board meetings in the past year.��

Foster was previously criticised for his attendance record at airport board meetings when he was mayor.��

In 2021, Richard Westlake, managing director of Westlake Governance Limited and an experienced director and board chairman, said being a director carried significant responsibilities and risks.��

“That type of attendance record implies the director doesn’t take the appointment seriously.”��

Any director could miss one meeting a year or possibly two due to issues such as illness and a clash of commitments, Westlake said at the time.��

“But a rule of thumb used in governance says miss three and you’re gone, unless there are strong mitigating factors.”��

Westlake said he thought the mayor, and leader of a significant shareholder in the airport, would have brought a helpful perspective to board deliberations.��

“Boards don’t have room for passengers.”��

It was also disruptive to have a board member who only appeared from time to time, he said.��

“They’re not up to date with where the board’s thinking has progressed, and they may want to re-examine or re-litigate matters the board has already dealt with.”��

Ethan Manera is a multimedia journalist based in Wellington. He joined ��һ�ǿ����� in 2023 and is interested in politics, local issues, and the Public Service. Ethan is always on the lookout for a story, he can be emailed at��[email protected]��or messaged on X (formerly Twitter)����