Two councillors, or no two councillors, that is the question facing Golden Bay

Tasman’s electorate boundaries are more than just a line on a map – they determine how residents are represented on the district council, and they could soon become a focus of public debate.

Currently, Tasman is divided into five districts, represented by 13 councillors (not including the mayor): Richmond has four councillors, Moutere-Waimea has three councillors, Motueka has three councillors, Golden Bay has two councillors and Lakes-Murchison has one councillor.

But the council, which needs to review its representation arrangements, will ask residents whether the system is the right one when a consultation begins on Friday, July 26.

The current arrangement benefits from residents’ familiarity, but does have some anomalies.

The Local Elections Act is designed to ensure fair representation of residents, but if Golden Bay continues to have two district councillors it will result in the community being over-represented by 36 per cent.

The local government board has in the past allowed over-representation of the community from the Bay area because it is seen as an “isolated community” – there is only one land route to the Bay, via State Highway 60 over Takaka Mountain.

Richmond ward councillor Kit Marling believes the area should be represented by just one councillor given the over-representation and argues the use of video conferencing tools means the area is no longer isolated.

However, both Golden Bay councillors strongly advocated for retaining two councillors.

Chris Hill stressed that residents in her constituency would be represented by less than 18 per cent if there was only one councillor, while Celia Butler said having one councillor would further diminish the voice of residents in remote rural communities.

Wakefield town is in the Moutere-Waimea Ward, but Totara View Road (just 2 km from central Wakefield) is in the Lakes-Murchison Ward.

Christeen Mackenzie, Wakefield’s Mutrey-Waimea ward councillor, described the situation as “crazy”.

“We are severely dividing the community of interests.”

The council also explored other options but did not make a recommendation, including relocating the Motueka Valley and Tasman Village communities from the Moutere-Waimea district to the Motueka district.

A more radical option would be to merge the three districts into three: Richmond District, Golden Bay-Motueka District, and the collectively named Moutere-Waimea-Lakes-Murchison District.

The Local Elections Act aims to achieve fair representation by ensuring that the representation of the population of a constituency does not fall below or exceed 10% or more.

This goal will be achieved by merging three constituencies, all of which have disproportionate representation of less than 5%.

But it violates the Act in another way, namely by violating the principle of community of interest – Murchison and Mapúa have little in common and are 90 minutes’ drive apart, yet under the model they would be part of the same district.

When elected councillors discussed the redistricting on Wednesday, the idea of ​​increasing the number of wards was mentioned only in passing, but the possibility was left open for residents to make suggestions.

It is also proposed that Golden Bay Community Council and Motueka Community Council be retained.

The proposed representation arrangements, which will be subject to consultation, will include a Maori ward, which would bring the total number of councillors to 14.

The government has introduced a bill requiring councils that set up Māori electorates without a poll – as Tasman did in September 2023 – to either abolish them or hold a binding poll on the electorate during the 2025 local election.

But because the Act has not yet been enacted, the parliamentary report said it was “not possible” to decide whether to withdraw the Act or continue to apply it in Māori areas.

The decision will be made with guidance from local tribes.

At a parliamentary meeting earlier on Wednesday, elected members backed two terms of reference for Local Government New Zealand, which will see the organisation lobby the Government to ensure Māori electorates are not subject to binding elections, and that already established Māori electorates are consolidated so a two-thirds majority in parliament is required to abolish them.

However, Tasman Mayor Tim King expressed reservations about the latter power, saying if local councils had the power to create Māori electorates, they should also have the power to remove them.

LDR is a local news organisation jointly funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.