McAnulty KieranLOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTORAL LEGISLATION BILLSecond ReadingHon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister of Local Government): I present a legislative statement on the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KIERAN McANULTY: I move That the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill be now read a second time. I wish to start today by acknowledging the previous Minister of Local Government the Hon Nanaia Mahuta who oversaw the initial work of this bill and whose vision for a stronger local government system and a fairer local electoral system takes another step forward today. To put it plainly the local electoral system is the tool we use to find people who will make important decisions on behalf of their local communities. Like any tool it needs the occasional tune-up. This bill makes changes to several Acts that will improve the way that individuals and communities are represented by and can participate in local government actions. The bill does this by establishing a fit for purpose process for councils to consider Māori representation providing for more flexibility for different representation arrangements at Auckland Council and updating the recount rules for local elections. Let's start with Māori wards. This Government took a first step to change this in 2021 when we amended the poll provisions in relation to the creation of Māori wards. The polls against Māori wards were discriminatory. No other type of ward was subject to the same poll. Even the possibility of a poll was a bigger barrier to Māori representation than most people had thought. The first stage of changes was necessary to help councils get ready for the 2022 elections. Almost overnight Aotearoa went from having just three councils with Māori wards to 34. Last October 66 councillors were elected to represent Māori communities. The perspectives they bring will make a real impact on local governments. Now we are looking towards the future. This bill sets out an enduring process for councils to consider Māori representation. New Zealanders will be able to have their say on the issues in a new engagement process that will be run by councils. This process will ask What value can Māori representation add in your area?" Representation decisions cannot happen in a vacuum or be swept under the rug. There must be a conversation and this bill ensures that will happen. What this bill does not do is require councils to have Māori wards. These are important local decisions. Māori wards might not work everywhere and that's OK. There are lots of other ways to improve Māori representation and I saw different approaches to Māori representation around the country when I visited the 55 rural and provincial councils last year. Councils and the Local Government Commission will be pleased to hear that this bill changes some of the time frames of the representation review process. Officials in the Governance and Administration Committee heard that representation review time frames have been too tight and I appreciate that feedback. We have made a change so that everyone gets a bit more time going forward. This means that we will have a fairer representation review process that works for everyone. As we all know the North Island severe weather events have caused extensive damage to many communities and councils' assets and infrastructure. Recovery from these events will require a substantial amount of councils' resources and will continue to be the councils' focus for some years to come. At the committee of the whole House stage I will be introducing a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) to delay the commencement of provisions relating to the requirement for councils to consider Māori representation. As mentioned the bill puts in place a new requirement for councils to consider Māori representation. Councils who are required to do a representation review this year would be required to consider Māori representation if they don't already have Māori wards. Councils would have to familiarise themselves with this process and put it into practice from April 2023. However several councils who are required to undertake a representation review this year have also been severely impacted by recent weather events. Several other councils are also under the pump on many other fronts as councils told me last year when I visited them.I think it is important to reduce the impact of new regulatory requirements on the sector at the current time especially those councils affected by the extreme weather events who need to focus on recovery. Considering Māori representation remains important and we encourage all councils to have these conversations with their communities. However in the context of the massive impact of the extreme weather events we need to offer affected councils some regulatory relief and some flexibility to determine what is manageable. Councils who are required to do a representation review this year can still optionally decide to consider Māori representation. The new requirements for councils to consider Māori representation will not come into force until the day after the 2025 local election. This is when councils start thinking about their representation process and the type of representation they want.I stand by these changes which will strengthen council governance in the future but we need to be reasonable when implementing new requirements on councils during an emergency response and recovery phase. Announcing this SOP now provides clarity and certainty for councils on when the new requirement will take effect from and what it means for them. Next I want to talk about Auckland. Unlike all other councils who have the right to set their own membership size Auckland Council has been constrained. In 2010 when Auckland Council was set up it was limited to only 20 councillors. Auckland's growth means that each councillor now represents almost 86000 residents. For reference that's about the same population as the New Plymouth district. The bill gives Auckland Council the flexibility to determine its own representation arrangements just like anywhere else in the country. The bill also establishes a streamlined process for Auckland Council to review its local board boundaries. To be clear this bill doesn't change anything overnight for Auckland. What it does do is give Auckland Council more leeway when it comes to considering whether it fairly and effectively represents its local communities. Finally I want to talk about recounts. In 2009 we had some very tight elections where council seats were decided through a coin toss. Sometimes a coin toss is the best and fairest way to settle a tie. But I think it pays to make sure you've got the right result by doing a judicial recount before you toss the coin. Unfortunately the current legislation says that the coin toss comes before the recount. That seems a bit backwards to me. So in 2019 it meant that people who had been told they were elected either by a close margin or by a coin toss were then told they were out of a job after a recount. We're changing the law to make sure that election outcomes are fair understandable and mana-enhancing.The bill makes three changes to put the system right including an automatic judicial recount for tight election results—this aligns local government elections with parliamentary elections—a new ability for candidates to withdraw from the election after a judicial recount if there is still a tie—this is for candidates who don't want to seal their fate by a coin toss—and finally the bill requires councils to wait to have their first meeting until any recounts are complete the exception being for urgent business that can be conducted without the involvement of any candidate affected by a recount. This is a highly technical piece of legislation and I would like to thank the Governance and Administration Committee for its work on the bill. I want to acknowledge all the submissions on the bill from local authorities organisations and individuals. The committee received 49 written submissions with the majority supporting the intent of the bill. I would also like to acknowledge the 19 local boards in Auckland who provided feedback. Many submitters provided helpful suggestions that have been incorporated into this bill. The committee has recommended several simple changes to the bill that help clarify its intended effect. These include clarifying the rules of engagement for councils to follow when they consider Māori representation. For the record there is not a requirement for councils to use the special consultative procedure. Councils know their communities best and they should engage with them however they think is right. The committee also recommended some changes to the timing of the review process which I hope councils will be pleased with. New Zealand is a representative democracy. Local government is an important part of the democratic system. This bill strengthens our local democracy and I commend it to the House.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The question is that the motion be agreed to."