Legislative Provisions of The Local Electoral Act 2001
This report works with the definition of ‘Māori’ as used by Statistics New Zealand:
“A person has Māori descent if they are of the Māori race of New Zealand; this includes any descendant of such a person.”[1]
Elections New Zealand also uses this definition for determining a person’s eligibility to enrol on the Māori electoral roll. This report will follow accepted practice in accepting a working definition of the term ‘Māori’.
The concept of ‘dedicated Māori representation’ at a local government level is similar to that used at a central government level to increase the number of Māori elected. At a local government level it is similar to the way used by the Environment Bay of Plenty’s three Māori constituencies[2]. Because representation of a comparable[3] nature is found in Environment Bay of Plenty[4], significant parallels in opportunities and risks are raised.
Any person can stand for election in a Māori or General constituency, regardless of which electoral roll they are enrolled on. However, each candidate must be nominated by two electors on the respective roll for the constituency they seek election in. This means that non-Māori could seek election to a Māori constituency and conversely, that a Māori elector would be able to seek election to a General constituency, with the appropriate nominations.
For the purposes of this project, it will be assumed that the number of elected seats will be two, in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance[5]. Details of how the number of Māori constituencies[6] in Environment Bay of Plenty is arrived at, is included in Appendix One.
This report does not discuss the opportunities and risks created by the concept of mana whenua appointed representation, as was a further recommendation of the Royal Commission[7]. This is partially due time and space constraints. A further report to develop the concept of appointed representation would be a welcome addition to the field, particularly as the issue develops into the future.
The right to vote in a Māori constituency will, like at central government level, preclude the elector from also voting for the general representative positions. This prevents arguments around ‘double dipping’ or ‘one person, one vote’ becoming substantive issues in this report.
Dedicated Māori Representation and Propose Future Auckland Governance Structure
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AUCKLAND COUNCIL
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Mayor of Auckland (Elected at large) |
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12 non-Māori Constituency Councillors
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8 Councillors (Elected at large) |
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Council Committees |
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20-30 Community Boards |
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2 Māori Constituency Councillors |
This is a potential version for what ‘dedicated Māori representation’ would look like in practice on the new council, taking into account current developments from the Auckland Transition Authority[8].
For Risks & Opportunities At A Glance, click here.
For information on ‘technical issues’, such as definitions, click here.
For information related to Māori representation as a public policy issue, click here.
For more information about Māori representation and Auckland specifically, click here.
For information related to opportunities created by dedicated Māori representation, click here.
For information related to the risks created by dedicated Māori representation, click here.
For other methods of indigenous minority representation, click here.
For news related to Māori representation in local government, click here.
[1] Statistics New Zealand 1998
[2] Referred to as ‘wards’ in local authorities (such as a city council) and referred to as ‘constituencies’ in regional authorities.
[3] Incidentally, the legislation enabling Environment Bay of Plenty to develop Māori constituencies (Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Māori Constituency Empowering) Act 2001) is different from the legislation enabling other local authorities to establish Māori wards or constituencies (Local Electoral Act 2001). The provisions of the Local Electoral Act 2001 however, are the relevant enablers for Auckland governance.
[4] More commonly referred to as The Bay of Plenty Regional Council
[5] Royal Commission on Auckland Governance 2009: 497
[6] For more information on how the “Maori electoral population” is calculated, refer to the Electoral Act 1993, s (1) for the calculation used.
[7] Ibid
[8] Auckland Transition Authority 2009