Wellington’s councils are under immense pressure. Rates are rising, infrastructure is failing, and public trust in council delivery has been badly damaged by a string of high-profile controversies.

But what if the problem isn’t that councils are doing too much, but that they’ve spent decades giving away the ability to do things themselves?

In this interview, Public Interest speaks with Unions Wellington secretary Ashok Jacob about the new ‘Wellington Works’ campaign to bring Wellington City Council services back in-house.

The discussion covers outsourcing, Wellington Water, public ownership, council governance, and why battles over who controls infrastructure are becoming some of the defining political fights in the capital.