Lower Hutt mayor Fauono Ken Laban has come out in support of a plan to merge Wellington's councils into one big organisation, known as a super city. He is the most senior local politician in the region to publicly back the idea.

Laban told RNZ's Morning Report he supported the proposal from consultants MartinJenkins, but was careful to say he was speaking only for himself. "I can't speak on behalf of the other mayors," he said (RNZ).

RNZ also quoted South Wairarapa mayor Dame Fran Wilde and Wellington deputy mayor Ben McNulty in the same article, though it did not give the details of what they said. Wilde has been involved in local government reform debates for a long time and previously chaired the Greater Wellington Regional Council. McNulty is Wellington's deputy mayor, the second-highest role in the capital's council.

Right now, the Wellington region has several separate councils — each city or area has its own council looking after things like rubbish, roads and parks — plus one regional council that handles bigger issues like public transport and flood protection. The idea behind a super city is to combine all of these into a single council, so decisions are made region-wide instead of area by area.

The region has been debating this for years. The Post reported in mid-2024 that water problems and rising rates had pushed the merger idea back onto the agenda, with talk of a "Super City-lite" — a partial version that would merge some functions but not everything (The Post). At that time, then-Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry could not be reached for comment.

Barry was mayor from 2019 to 2025. He announced in April 2025 that he would not seek re-election (Hutt City Council). By September 2025, he was posting on Facebook that amalgamation was being discussed in Wellington and by the Government, describing Lower Hutt as "a city on the rise" while showing openness to working with other councils on water infrastructure. The Hutt City Council's Facebook page had previously shared an opinion piece by Barry about cooperating to fix the region's water problems.

Laban took over from Barry after starting his mayoral campaign around August 2025 (The Spinoff). He is New Zealand's first Pasifika mayor, according to the Hutt City Council's official website. Born and raised in Wainuiomata, where he still lives, Laban was born in 1957. He is a former New Zealand rugby league player and broadcaster, and served on the Greater Wellington Regional Council from 2013 to 2025.

That regional council experience matters here. Laban spent more than ten years at the regional council level, which sits above the city and district councils that would be folded into a super city. That means he understands both layers of local government from the inside — something most mayors in the region have not experienced directly.

Wellington's amalgamation debate goes back a long way. In 2014, the NZ Herald reported on a proposed super-city merger that mentioned Campbell Barry — then a Hutt City councillor — alongside Labour MP Chris Hipkins (NZ Herald). A 2022 Stuff article asked whether the Hutt Valley really needs two separate councils, noting that Barry had updated Lower Hutt's rubbish collection system while on council (Stuff).

Whether the plan goes anywhere will depend on whether other mayors across the region come on board. Laban's support matters, but he is one voice among several mayors.

The bigger question is whether the water and rates problems that restarted this debate in 2024 have got worse since then — enough to change the minds of councils that have always resisted giving up their independence.

New Zealand has tried this kind of reform before, with mixed results. Auckland merged its many councils into one super city in 2010, and it remains the only example of a large-scale council merger in this country. Whether Wellington goes down the same path, or settles for the partial "Super City-lite" model reported in 2024, will depend on whether individual councils and their mayors are willing to give up some control — and whether the Government is willing to force the issue by passing a law if councils can't agree.