The Future for Local Government review has proposed lowering the voting age to 16. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Future for Local Government review has proposed lowering the voting age to 16. Photo / Andrew Warner
Former and current local government representatives are "thrilled" and "encouraged" by a proposal to lower the voting age to 16 and extend elected members' terms to four years.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta established the review 18 months ago and an independent panel has now come up with 29 draft recommendations and a number of questions.
The review proposed allowing 16-year-olds to vote, mana whenua appointees potentially sitting alongside elected Māori ward councillors, moving all councils to the Single Transferable Vote system, and more money for councillors.
Former Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / Ben Fraser
Former Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said she was "thrilled" to see the recommendation of extending elected members' terms from three to four years.
A four-year term would allow the council to have a "much longer lead time" for planning its priorities, such as housing, and for implementation.
She said the local election earlier this month had shown central government politics got "very muddled up" in local body elections and there needed to be "two years' distance" between the two.
"They get too tangled up in each other and they're entirely different."
Chadwick also supported lowering the local body election voting age to 16, as 16-year-olds were becoming more aware of major issues such as climate change.
"If you lower it to 16, you're more likely to get more 18-year-olds voting too."
"The more we get younger people's views to colour what they're seeing in their future by participating, I think it's a great thing."
Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby. Photo / Supplied
Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby, a Bay of Plenty regional councillor and former Tauranga mayor, said there were several points that pointed to a bigger picture of trying to get greater local and democratic decisions made.
This was important as there had been a gradual loss of this over time, contributing to a deepening disconnect between local government and local community, he said.
Crosby said the review was the "first reasonable review in 30-plus years".
"The good thing about this piece of work is it's opening people's eyes to see what they can do without democratic change, which can take a long time. That's probably one of the most important short-term outcomes of this report," he said.
Crosby said key points within the report such as suggesting better remuneration for elected members, longer terms, and lowering the voting age were encouraging.
"I'm encouraged but I'm also worried," he said.
"I'm worried that the final report is due in June next year. And we all know what's going to happen a couple of months after that – the general election.
"The risk is this Government is well on track for major reforms and this one could end up on the shelf for some time and leave us stranded."
Crosby said he hoped other parties would work towards coming to their own view of the report so that regardless of next year's election's outcome, "we can hopefully keep some momentum".
Crosby said the report's recommendations for bringing more Māori tikanga to the council tables was something many councils were already doing nationally. The report was "just accelerating that a little".
Ngai Tamarawaho representative Buddy Mikaere said he believed there would be "a huge backlash" about having unelected mana whenua appointees "having a say" on councils.
Mikaere, who unsuccessfully stood for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council in this year's election, said the recommendation hinted at what co-governance might look like.
"It's mostly older people who are voting so ... there's no engaging somewhere. Something's missing.
"Anything that can get younger people involved in the electoral cycle has got to be good."
Western Bay of Plenty mayor James Denyer said he welcomed the review as he believed aspects of Local Government such as council funding mechanisms needed fixing.
"Personally, I am glad to see the proposal for four-year terms. New Zealand's three-year terms are out of step with most other Western democracies.
"Doing Long Term Plans (LTPs) every three years means that these are an almost continual treadmill for staff. The election, induction and training processes are also expensive and disruptive, so spreading elections out slightly would be beneficial."
Submissions on the draft close on February 28, with the final report due to be delivered to the minister by June.
