Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill

Members, we are in committee on the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill. We come first to Part 1. This is the debate on clauses 3 to 33—Amendments to Local Electoral Act 2001—and Schedules 1 and 2.

Point of order. I seek leave for all provisions to be taken as one question.

Leave is sought for that purpose. Are there any objections? There are none. The question is that Parts 1 to 3, Schedules 1 to 3, and clauses 1 and 2 stand part.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. At this late hour of the day, we are considering the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill. There’s not a huge amount in it, but I think it would be worth hearing from the Minister a bit of explanation around some of the provisions, and I suppose I might as well start with a locally focused question to the extent that it relates to Auckland Council and the ability for council to set its own number of councillors up to a certain limit—I think I have read 29, it would be, compared with the current 20. So I’m wondering if the Minister can explain for the committee’s benefit what the reasoning is there as compared with the legislation that set up Auckland Council in a very specific way, presumably for a specific reason.

I thank the member for the question—they’re always considered and well articulated. Auckland Council is the only council in the country that doesn’t determine its own number of councillors. It was set up that way in the legislation, but it was an anomaly at the time. I express no opinion or view on the number of councillors that’s appropriate for them, but that’s as it should be. It should be up to them to determine whether their current number of councillors is appropriate for the size of the jurisdiction that the council represents, just like every other council.

Oh, thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the Minister for his engagement on that particular point. I put it to the Minister and the committee that whether there should be more or fewer councillors probably depends on who we’re talking about. We’ve all got our favourites and whatever the opposite of a favourite is in that regard. But, actually, I would say that we’ve got a lot of good representatives in local government in Auckland and indeed across the country—some better than others, of course. But the system design—I think the Minister makes a fair point regarding the consistency of the way that the structure is determined.

In relation to the Māori wards element, I note that this is essentially confirmation of a discussion and a policy—indeed, a law—that was set out previously in relation to what was then the upcoming local election in 2022, it must have been. And the change, of course, was not in relation to whether Māori wards could be created but the removal of a requirement for a referendum. I do remember some of the arguments that were made on both sides at the time, and I presume that those still more or less apply, again, on both sides of the argument. But I do wonder if the Minister can explain to the committee the requirement that at each six-yearly interval, the question must be continued to be revisited, notwithstanding the answer might have been “no” previously, and whether that requirement to revisit every six years applies if Māori wards are established. That is to say, will they need to consider every six years whether they should be disestablished?

So every council is required to do a representation review every six years. At the moment, now that Māori wards are an option for councils, they don’t have to consider whether they, alongside all the other considerations that are in place, need to be considered. So we’re just putting that in there. It is not a requirement for councils to have Māori wards, I want to be really clear on that. That is a local decision. It’s not something that the Government is proposing to impose on councils, but we’re saying that, if every six years they have to consider all other aspects of representation, now that Māori wards are a thing they should also consider those alongside the other matters.

Members, the time has come for me to leave the Chair. I will resume the Chair at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. This committee is suspended. Pō mārie.

Sitting suspended from 11.58 p.m. to 9 a.m. (Thursday)