Commission determination on Rotorua representation arrangements

8 April 2022

The Local Government Commission has today released its determination on Rotorua representation arrangements for the October 2022 elections.

The Commission’s decision differs from the Council’s proposal that was adopted last November by:

• Increasing the number of members in the Maori ward from 1 to 3;
• Increasing the number of members elected in the General Ward from 1 to 6;
• Adjusting the boundaries of the General Ward to cover the Rotorua urban and lakes areas;
• Creating a Rotorua Rural General Ward with 1 seat and covering the same area as the Rotorua Rural Community Board;
• Removing at-large members so that all members are elected by ward.

You can read the full determination at THIS LINK on the Local Government Commission website.

Mayor Steve Chadwick says while time is needed to fully absorb the determination and understand the implications, in her view it appears at first glance to deliver more inequities and anomalies.

“I’m concerned that it appears to disadvantage those included in the rural ward boundary by only providing them with a total of two votes - one for the rural ward seat and one for a mayoral candidate - and that this ward seems to include residents in our lakes areas as well.

“It also leaves those on the Maori electoral roll with only three votes for councillors and one vote for a mayor, in comparison to those on the General roll who will get 6 votes for councillors and one vote for a mayor."

Mayor Chadwick says it does not appear to address the key issues Council is seeking to resolve through its Local Bill which seeks to enable Council's preferred representation model for the district.

"I feel it’s now even more important that we see this Bill come into force.”

Council's DCE, District Leadership and Democracy, Oonagh Hopkins says staff are now working through the determination to establish what this model would mean for the community and will provide further information about this as soon as possible.

Council is pursuing a Local Bill through Parliament seeking a legislation change to enable it to adopt a preferred representation model (1 Mayor voted in at large, a Maori ward with 3 members, a general ward with 3 members, 4 members voted at large plus a rural community board and a lakes community board).

If the Local Bill comes into force by June 2022, this would replace the Local Government Commission’s determination on the representation review.

The Local Bill passed its first reading in Parliament this week and has been referred to the Maori Select Committee which has opened consultation. Submissions close 20 April. More information about the Local Bill process can be found HERE on the Parliamentary website.

Background

The Local Government Commission (LGC) decided to proceed with hearings regarding Rotorua Lakes Council’s 2022 Representation Review decision. Those who appealed or objected to Council’s final decision on representation arrangements were able to be heard by the Commission last month with the hearings held online and livestreamed.

The hearings followed Council’s Representation Review process last year.

Council was bound by legislative constraints to adopt a representation model by Friday 19 November 2021. So while acknowledging that the ideal representation model is the one outlined in the Representation Arrangements Local Bill that Council is currently pursuing, to meet the requirements of the Local Electoral Act (LEA), in a split vote decision, Council adopted the following interim representation model (more information about this decision is available HERE):

• 1 Mayor elected at large
• 1 Māori Ward with 1 seat
• 1 General Ward with 1 seat
• 8 “At large” seats
• A Rotorua Lakes Community Board
• A Rural Community Board

It was noted that this interim model falls short of Council’s preferred model, however preserves the principles of voter parity, a key theme emerging through consultation, and is legally compliant with the formula set out in the LEA.

While this model achieves parity between the Māori Ward and the General Ward, it reduces the number of available seats in the wards to 1 each, and increases the ‘at large’ seats to 8. This was the only formulation that could achieve parity between the wards in a legally compliant manner.

You can learn more about the Representation Review HERE.