Lower Hutt mayor Fauono Ken Laban has publicly backed a MartinJenkins proposal to merge Wellington's councils into a single super-city entity, making him the most senior local politician in the region to support the plan.

Laban told RNZ's Morning Report he supported the MartinJenkins proposal, though he was careful to limit his endorsement to his own position. "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 the specifics of their comments were not detailed. Wilde is a long-standing figure in local government reform debates, having chaired the Greater Wellington Regional Council in an earlier era. McNulty, as Wellington's deputy mayor, holds the second-highest office in the capital's city council.

The MartinJenkins proposal is the latest in a series of attempts to streamline the Wellington region's fragmented local government structure. The region currently has several territorial authorities — local councils responsible for services like rubbish collection, roads and parks — plus a regional council that handles wider issues like public transport and flood protection. The region has wrestled with amalgamation for years. The Post reported in mid-2024 that dual water and rates crises had forced renewed talks of a "Super City-lite" merger (The Post). At that time, then-Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry could not be reached for comment.

Barry, who served as mayor from 2019 to 2025, 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, framing Lower Hutt as "a city on the rise" while signalling openness to regional cooperation on water infrastructure. The Hutt City Council's Facebook page previously shared an op-ed by Barry on working together to tackle the region's water problems.

Laban succeeded Barry after launching his mayoral campaign around August 2025 (The Spinoff). He is New Zealand's first Pasifika mayor, as confirmed by 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 footballer and broadcaster, and served as a member of the Greater Wellington Regional Council between 2013 and 2025.

His regional council experience is relevant here. Laban spent over a decade at the regional council level, which sits above the city and district councils that any super-city model would absorb. That gives him a working knowledge of both tiers of governance that most mayors in the region do not have from direct experience.

The Wellington amalgamation question has a long history. As far back as 2014, the NZ Herald reported on a "Wellington super city merger proposed" plan, which at the time mentioned Campbell Barry — then a Hutt City councillor — alongside Labour MP Chris Hipkins (NZ Herald). A 2022 Stuff article examined whether the Hutt Valley needs two separate councils, noting that Barry had modernised Lower Hutt's waste collection system during his time on council (Stuff).

The proposal's path forward will depend on whether other mayors across the region can be brought to the table. Laban's endorsement, while significant, is a single voice among the region's mayoralty holders.

The broader question is whether the water and rates pressures that reignited the merger debate in 2024 have worsened enough since then to shift the political calculus for councils that have historically resisted giving up their autonomy.

Local government reform in Aotearoa has a mixed track record. The Auckland super-city model, legislated in 2009 and implemented in 2010, remains the country's sole precedent for large-scale council amalgamation. Whether the Wellington region follows a similar path, or settles for the "Super City-lite" partial model The Post reported on in 2024, will depend on the willingness of individual councils and their mayors to cede authority — and on whether central government is prepared to legislate if voluntary agreement cannot be reached.