Unelected members are being banned from voting on councils. What does it mean?

Some are calling it a ‘major win for local democracy’. Others say all it will achieve is ‘silencing Māori voices’.

Last week, the government announced it would legislate to remove voting rights for all unelected members on council committees. Following recent controversy involving the Far North District Council and its Te Kuaka committee, local government minister Simon Watts said changes were being made to the Local Government (System Improvements) Bill currently before parliament.

“We’ve seen examples in the Far North, in Tauranga and in Hastings where individuals, such as iwi representatives and young people aged under 18, have been appointed to council committees and given voting rights without being elected by the community,” Watts said in the press release announcing the change. There were concerns this was “undermining decision-making and diluting the influence of democratically elected members”, he said.

So what exactly is being changed?

Under the proposed changes, no unelected council committee members will have voting rights or count towards a quorum (the minimum number of voting members) of the committee. Following the passing of the bill, councils will have six months to implement the changes across their committees. In practical terms, this period will be about ensuring committees across councils have enough elected representatives to make up the required quorum. This will be achieved either by replacing unelected committee members with councillors or amending quorum requirements for committees.

Why is this happening now?

It largely stems from criticism of the Far North District Council made by one of its councillors, Davina Smolders, earlier this year. In April, the first-term Act-aligned councillor took issue with local hapū and iwi representatives being appointed to a council committee called Te Kuaka, alleging this was “racism” and that a “new form of local government” was being established. Act Party leader David Seymour and other senior political figures backed Smolders and the issue gained traction.

Last week, Act took credit for the decision, hailing it as “a major win for ratepayers and local democracy”.

Is the practice of appointing non-elected committee members new?

No. Councils around the country have included non-elected members on council committees for some time. These appointments often include subject matter experts on relevant committees, for example accountants on audit and risk committees – the Audit Office, a government body, recommends appointing an independent chair to these. Tangata whenua representatives are often appointed to committees where there is a need for engagement with Māori, and it is this that has been a source of contention for many, with opponents condemning the inclusion of non-elected members representing Māori interests on council committees.

What sort of decisions are non-elected members getting to vote on?

In the case of Far North District Council’s Te Kuaka, it is an advisory panel, so members vote to make recommendations to council, rather than voting on final decisions. Major decisions around rates, plans and the like are made by elected councillors.

What are people opposed to the changes saying?

Some opponents allege the move is purely political and targeted at removing Māori representation across councils. “They are doing everything they can to ensure that Māori get absolutely zero say in any decisions made on our whenua,” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi.

Aperahama Edwards, co-chair of Te Kahu o Taonui – Te Tai Tokerau Iwi Chairs Collective, shared a similar view: “This is not about democracy – this is about silencing Māori voices in the rooms where decisions about our rohe are made. This is not a democratic correction. It is a political reward to a coalition partner.”

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), the local government association of New Zealand, expressed concern about the changes being made late in the lawmaking process.

“This is a significant change to a long-held practice. LGNZ is concerned that this has been added to a bill that has already gone through select committee, which means it will not be thoroughly tested and debated. As a result, there may be a number of unintended consequences,” said LGNZ president Rehette Stoltz.

“Removing their voting powers could limit councils’ ability to decide what expertise is needed to supplement the skills around the table. The move undermines the government’s own desire to ensure good decisions are being made in our communities,” Stoltz added.

Speaking to RNZ, Hastings mayor Wendy Schollum pointed to a loss of expertise on audit and risk committees. “When you’re overseeing around $3.6 billion worth of community assets, as we are in Hastings, it’s a really sensible thing to have independent financial, legal and risk expertise in the room helping make decisions, because it protects scrutiny and it really helps protect ratepayers.”

Schollum said it made “very little sense” to strip the independent expert of their voting rights. “It’s actually a really important weighting that we give experts in their field on committees like risk and assurance.”

Tauranga mayor Mahe Drysdale expressed a similar sentiment about his council’s audit and risk committee: “Taking a vote away from the chair, I think, actually weakens governance, which is disappointing,” he told RNZ.

Is anyone supportive of the changes?

Speaking to The Spinoff, Otago Regional Council chair Hilary Calvert said she didn’t “have any idea why they [unelected council members] would need to have voting rights”.

“I find it really difficult to deal well with something that calls itself a democracy but has unelected and elected people next door to each other,” said Calvert.

The Otago Regional Council currently only has one subcommittee – the audit and risk committee – following a transition from a committee structure to portfolio structure at the beginning of the last term. Calvert said there was one unelected member on the committee – someone with accounting experience. She said he “does have voting rights, because all members of committees do, but just keep an eye on what’s going on there. It’s not to vote in a political fashion.”

Meanwhile, some are saying the change doesn’t go far enough. In a post on social media, the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance, which is part of the Taxpayers’ Union, questioned why Auckland’s Independent Māori Statutory Board (Houkura) was exempt from the policy.

“Its unelected members will vote with the same status as elected councillors on Auckland Council committees… This is hypocrisy at its finest. You can’t say unelected voting is wrong in every other council and then make an exception for New Zealand’s largest city.”

What happens next?

The second reading of the bill got under way last month and it should be back before parliament soon. If the bill passes, which it is expected to, councils around the country will be required to reconfigure their committees to ensure they remain operative.

“I acknowledge the government has the mandate to make legislative change and that is what it intends,” Far North District mayor Moko Tepania said in response to last week’s announcement. “Right now, we’re focused on getting on with the mahi and we’ll adapt to this change as we need to.”

With a range of changes to local government in the pipeline – most notably a phased disestablishment of regional councils – local authorities around the country will now be forced to implement this latest central government initiative. The administrative and financial burden for councils will vary depending on the council’s structure.