\u201cI wasn\u2019t aware of it [the announcement] before it was made. Yes, it was a surprise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not clear what ministers mean when they say they want to use more AI in government because that on its own is a pretty meaningless statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little said one of his main goals for the June meeting would be to better understand the Government\u2019s implementation timeline.<\/p>\n
He also wanted to position Wellington\u2019s technology sector as part of the solution, arguing the city already had deep expertise in government-focused digital services and AI-related design work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very strong tech sector, including a GovTech sector, businesses who understand government and understand modern technology, including AI, and how that can assist the Government to improve services and create efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little pushed back against comments from Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith, who had questioned whether New Zealand had AI companies operating at the scale of global platforms such as Claude or Copilot.<\/p>\n
He said the issue was not whether Wellington could build the next multinational AI engine, but whether local firms could improve how government services were designed and delivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just the machinery they use to deliver. It\u2019s about the service offering \u2013 how government departments can make things easier for residents, taxpayers and people interacting with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor said Wellington\u2019s tech ecosystem was a growing economic force, estimating that the sector contributed about $2 billion to the regional economy and employed roughly 2000 people.<\/p>\n
He pointed to companies such as Xero as examples of successful firms that emerged from Wellington\u2019s start-up culture.<\/p>\n
Little was not concerned that newer entrants, such as Sharesies, Hnry and PartsTrader, may follow Xero\u2019s lead and head to California.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey stay because the support system is here and the community is here. That\u2019s where they get their support from, and that\u2019s why Wellington offers such a strength for that sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Little acknowledged the technology industry remained much smaller than Wellington\u2019s public sector workforce, which numbered in the \u201ctens of thousands\u201d and remained central to the capital\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
He said the challenge over the next three years would be ensuring workers affected by public sector cuts could transition into private-sector opportunities, particularly in technology and the creative industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of that talent sits in the public service, too. The foundations are here for some really exciting times ahead in terms of boosting businesses and providing alternatives to work that might otherwise be done in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Little was elected as mayor in part because of his connections to central government and promises to grow jobs and Wellington\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n
He said Wellington residents were looking for leadership and stability as uncertainty grew around job losses and restructuring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody holds me responsible for the decisions of central government. Once those decisions are made or announced, then what they want is local government leadership that respects the processes to get decisions made, to work with those in the community to provide an effective response and effective alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI wasn\u2019t aware of it [the announcement] before it was made. Yes, it was a surprise,\u201d he said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,20251,11357,3595,6093,10934,111,43,139,20484,69,37250,2170,3109,12975,25338,16189,88,1120,61,52,792],"class_list":["post-441514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-andrew","tag-budget","tag-by","tag-little","tag-mayor","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nicola","tag-nz","tag-penny","tag-plan","tag-public","tag-sector","tag-slash","tag-smith","tag-surprise","tag-takes","tag-to","tag-wellington","tag-willis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}