29 May 2024
Committee
Secretariat
Justice Committee
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
Dear Sir,
Thank you for providing the opportunity to submit on the
Local
Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies)
Amendment Bill.
We would like to be heard
in person.
This submission is on behalf of the Democracy Northland (DN), which was established by John Bain, a former deputy chairman of the Northland Regional Council.
In November 2020 DN initiated petitions pursuant to Section 19ZB of the Local Electoral Act 2001 for three local councils in Northland. They are the Northland Regional Council (NRC), Whangarei District Council (WDC) and the Kaipara District Council (KDC). Each had resolved to introduce Māori wards without prior consultation with the community.
DN was successful in gathering more than 5% of the required signatures and the petitions were validated by the councils’ Returning Officer before the rescinding legislation was introduced by the then Minister Nania Mahuta. That legislation was passed under urgency and backdated to predate the commencement of our petitions. We consider Minister Mahuta’s actions to be an egregious violation of the community's legal rights which were pursued in the interests of local democracy.
The total number of signatures gathered was 15,264. This represented 8.8%, 8.34% and 7.25% of registered electors in Kaipara, Whangarei and Northland respectively. This is well in excess of the 5% threshold. As far as we are aware, it was the largest paper petition ever presented to the local councils. We are confident many more signatures would have been gathered had the collection period not been disrupted by the Christmas holiday season.
People
gave two main reasons for signing the petition. The first was that such an
important democratic issue should be determined by electors. The second was a
belief that councils should represent all people equally and without favour to
any particular ethnic group.
We found these reasons to be the prevalent view of all, including among the many Māori people who supported the petition.
We also found there was a disconnect between the view of the community and the view of councillors. This became glaringly obvious when each of the three councils chose to ignore the petition and remained steadfast in their view that they saw no need to consult with the community about how they were elected. Councillors took the extraordinary view that they could change the way they were elected, without electors having a say.
We therefore welcome and support the purpose of this Bill to reinstate the petition right.
However, we believe the legislation could be improved, and we are asking the Committee to correct an injustice created by the former Labour Government.
We ask that those Councils that received petitions validated by a council Returning Officer prior to 2 March 2021 (the date the House passed Minister Mahuta’s retrospective legislation) be required to hold a binding poll of electors by no later than 30 September 2024, to take effect from the 2025 general local body election, if a council has not passed rescinding legislation by the required date (6 September 2024).
This would restore the status of those petitions to their standing as of 2 March 2021.
It is grossly unfair for electors in this situation to wait until the 2025 election before having a say when they have already established their right to require their council to hold a binding poll. The cost of the referendum should be solely borne by the council, as it is a cost they would have incurred anyway. It is also grossly unfair that if a poll were to be delayed until October 2025, it would not come into effect until October 2028, more than seven years after our local communities established their right to a binding poll. Justice delayed is justice denied.
If the Minister and the coalition government are genuine about “putting it right” then these councils should be treated as special situations requiring specific redress in the legislation.
Our general position is all Group 1 and Group 2 councils should be required to hold a binding poll of electors by no later than 30 September 2024, to take effect from the 2025 general local body election, if a council has not passed rescinding legislation by the required date (6 September 2024). We believe it is fair and reasonable that central government should at least consider contributing to the cost of the referenda given some of the cost is directly attributable to the actions of the previous Labour government.
In addition to our primary submission, we ask the committee to add an Explanatory Note to the Bill stating the petition right applies wherever the electoral system is changed. Clearly, there is a great deal of confusion and misinformation on this matter and the difference between changing the voting system, as Māori wards do, and creating a new ward (without changing the voting system) or moving ward boundaries to account for population changes or better reflect communities of interest is not clearly understood.
Conclusion
While
we support the intention of this Bill, we believe amendments are required in
the interests of “putting things right”.
Thank
you for your time.
John
Bain, Robin Grieve, Frank Newman
For
Democracy Northland
