McAnulty KieranLOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTORAL LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon KIERAN McANULTY (Associate Minister of Local Government) (remote) on behalf of the Minister of Local Government: Thank you Mr Speaker. I present a legislative statement on the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: 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 first time. I nominate the Governance and Administration Committee to consider the bill.I'm pleased to bring the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill to the House. This is an omnibus bill that amends several Acts to improve the way that individuals and communities are represented by and can participate in local government elections. To do this the bill completes the Government's work to fix the Māori ward laws provides more flexibility for different representation arrangements at Auckland Council and updates the recount rules for local elections. The bill also clarifies that candidates' nomination documents can be submitted electronically.The bill concludes 18 months of work to improve the ways that councils can make decisions about how their communities are represented. This work began in February last year when the Government removed the poll provisions that had long disenfranchised and disadvantaged Māori. I'm happy to say that there will be 35 councils with dedicated Māori electoral representation at the next local elections. Last year the Minister of Local Government promised there would be an enduring mechanism for councils to consider Māori electoral representation without poll demands. This bill fulfils that promise. We consulted with the public and heard that the gaps between the Māori ward process and the general ward process needs to be closed. Councils already consider how their communities are represented every six years in a process called a representation review. In this review they decide which communities should receive distinct representation through a system of wards. A common example is a rural ward to ensure rural residents are adequately represented in council decisions. It is sensible that councils should also consider Māori wards as part of the same representation review process.The bill moves councils' decisions regarding specific Māori representation inside the representation review and makes them the first step of that process. There will be a new requirement for councils to engage with their communities—including Māori—when they make these decisions. It isn't a requirement that every council have Māori wards—it's not a model that will work for every community—but it is important to ask the question of what value specific Māori representation can add to local governance and it is important to make these decisions early on instead of waiting until just before the elections so everybody knows what to expect. That's the new first step of this new process. The second step is to make detailed decisions about the implementation of Māori wards and general wards at the same time—for example how many councillor positions and where the ward boundaries will go. The Local Government Commission will continue to oversee these decisions. The bill adjusts the timing of the representation review so that councils have more time for community engagement and decision making. These changes will achieve a fairer representation review process that works for everyone.The bill also provides Auckland Council with more flexibility to determine its representation arrangements. Auckland Council is unique. Every other territorial authority can determine its own membership of between five and 29 councillors plus the mayor. Auckland Council has a fixed membership of 20 councillors and the mayor. The fixed membership requirements limit Auckland Council's ability to grow or change its representation arrangement as its communities grow and change so the Government is removing the 20-councillor cap and enabling Auckland Council to determine its membership like any other council. Auckland Council also has 21 local boards. The local board boundaries were set 12 years ago and they are cumbersome to change so we are providing two alternative streamlined processes—both overseen by the Local Government Commission—that will help Auckland Council to review its local board boundaries in the future. These changes will support Auckland Council to adapt its representation arrangements to keep up with population changes over time.The bill also addresses the issue of tied results in local elections. Tied results are rare but when they do occur they introduce a lot of uncertainty and disruption. At both parliamentary and local elections ties are currently resolved with the toss of a coin. There has never been a tie in the final results of an election to this House but in 2019 there were ties at two different council elections. One was in Whakatāne. There was a tie in the final results. Following the law at the time a coin was tossed and a winner was decided on the basis of that coin toss. The other candidate asked for a judicial recount which was her right and the recount found that she was the winner of the election. By this time the original winner had already been sworn in and had started her work but she had to leave the job. This bill proposes three changes to make these processes run more smoothly and make these events less confusing and to restore the mana and kaitiakitanga where these are lost. First the bill proposes an automatic judicial recount for tied election results. This already happens in parliamentary elections where a coin toss will only occur if the judicial recount upholds the tie. Second the bill provides candidates with an off-ramp from a deadlocked tie. Affected candidates who are tied after a judicial recount may decide to withdraw from the election rather than have their fate be decided by a coin. It is an option that some candidates may prefer. Finally the bill requires councils to wait to have their first meeting until any recounts are complete. The exception is for urgent business that can be conducted without the involvement of any candidates affected by a recount. These changes provide a sensible structure to the recounts process.Our system of local government is in a state of change. Much of this is long overdue and there is likely to be more change after the Review into the Future for Local Government makes its final report next year but there will always be local democracy and our democratic systems must always be fit for purpose. Department of Internal Affairs officials have engaged Local Government New Zealand Taituarā Auckland Council officials Local Government Commission officials and council chief executives on the workability of this bill. I'd like to thank these organisations for their assistance to make sure the proposals in the bill will work well. Of course this is local election year and so I want to take the opportunity to remind everybody listening at home to check their enrolment is up to date at www.vote.nz/enrol so that their local election voting papers will be posted to the correct address. This bill will have a full six-month select committee process. So while the changes in this bill won't be ready for this year's election they will come into force early next year so that councils can use the new representation review process ahead of the local elections in 2025. I commend this bill to the House.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.