Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Are we asking too much in local body elections?

We need to talk about why we're persisting with having so many local body politicians.

We clearly have too many positions, don't we? I mean, just look at how many people are winning their seats at the moment.

The elections are this weekend - look at how many people are winning their seats without any elections, without anybody standing against them. With more than 200, that's 1 in every 7 council races.

So Hurunui already has its mayor, even though the elections are this weekend. It's Marie Black, no one's standing against her.

Manawatū already has its mayor, Michael Ford, no one's standing against him.

There are more than 80 councillors who are already elected across the country, there are several on the Southland Regional Council already elected.

Lower Hutt, Southland, Buller, Stratford, Marlborough councils, two of Auckland's councils already elected - unopposed - as well as 3 of Christchurch's.

There are also empty seats that no one wants to fill in community boards in the Rotorua Lakes, New Plymouth's Kaitake, Clifton as well, rural Hastings, Hanmer Springs, Twizel, and Mataura.

What that tells you is that you have more positions to fill than you have people who want to fill those positions.

Now, please have a look at your voting papers and vote if you can.

I voted in Auckland already, right? I had 1 vote for mayor, I had 1 vote for council, and then I had up to 7 votes for my local board.

I didn't vote 7 times for my local, I didn't know who all of those people were.

I knew about 5 of them and at least 2 of them I knew for bad reasons, so I didn't want to vote for them.

So, you know, I think we clearly are asking too much.

And by the way, in Auckland, we have 172 local board politicians by the end of this process, and I'm not even counting the local licensing board.

The most junior of which, the ward councillors, get paid more than $54,000 each.

Now, I think looking at all of this, we are well overdue tipping all of this up and changing it and massively reducing the number of people that we're paying to do probably not a lot.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, listen, we need to talk about why we're persisting

(00:02):
with having so many local body politicians. We clearly have
too many positions, don't we. I mean, just look at
how many people are winning their seats at the moment
the elections are this weekend. Look at how many people
are winning their seats without any elections, without any without
anybody standing against them in the elections, with more than
two hundred. That's one in every seven council races. So
Hodanui already has its mayor even though the elections are

(00:26):
this weekend. It's Marie Black, no one's standing against her.
Munaw'tu already has its mayor, Michael Ford, no one standing
against him. There are more than eighty councilors who are
already elected across the country. There are several on the
Southland Regional Council already elected Lower Hut Southland or Taranga, Buller, Stratford,
Marlborough councils. Two of Auckland's councils already elected unopposed, three

(00:47):
of Christ churches. There are also empty seats that no
one wants to fill in community boards in the Routrua Lakes,
New Plymouth, kaituk Air Clifton, as well rural Hastings, hand
Miss Springs, Twizel, and Matoda. What that tells you is
you have more positions to fill than you have people
who want to fill those positions. Now, just have a
look at your voting will please have a look at

(01:09):
your voting papers and vote if you can. I voted
in Auckland already, right. I had one vote for mayor,
I had one vote for council, and then I had
up to seven votes for my local board. I didn't
vote seven times for my local I didn't know who
all of those people were. I knew about five of them,
and at least two of them I knew for bad reasons,
so I didn't want to vote for them. So, you know,

(01:31):
I think we're asking We clearly are asking too much.
And by the way, in Auckland, we have one hundred
and seventy two local board politicians by the end of
this process, and I'm not even counting the local licensing Board.
The Licensing Trust members one hundred and seventy two, the
most junior of which which is the ward counselors, get
paid more than fifty four thousand dollars each. Now, I

(01:52):
think looking at all of this. We are well overdue
tipping all of this up and changing it and massively
reducing the number of people that were paying to do
probably not a lot. For more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive,
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