Referendums may be piggybacked on to Tauranga council citywide byelection

Tauranga city councillor Larry Baldock. Photo/Andrew Warner

Referendums on controversial issues may be piggybacked on to Tauranga's citywide council byelection to be held later this year.

Dates for the byelection, which must be done to fill the seat left by the January 4 death of councillor Gail McIntosh, have yet to be announced.

Councillor Gail McIntosh passed away on January 4. File photo

Because McIntosh was an at-large councillor, all eligible Tauranga voters can vote in the byelection.

At the council's first 2018 meeting today elected members will consider the first - but likely not the last - proposal to attach a referendum to the byelection voting mail-out.

Councillor Larry Baldock has called for a referendum on the council's 8-3 decision in August last year to change the voting system from First Past the Post to Single Transferable Vote for the next two council elections in 2019 and 2022.

Tauranga councillor Larry Baldock. File photo

Baldock, who voted for the change and still supported it, said nevertheless the council made the decision hastily and without enough public consultation.

He said he would usually not call for a referendum because of the significant expense - estimated at $150,000 - but it could be done much more economically in conjunction with a byelection.

Mayor Greg Brownless said he would likely support the proposal as he voted against the voting system change last year because of the lack of public consultation.

"It is the fundamental right of the public to choose the method of election and the system shouldn't be changed without a clear mandate."

Tauranga Mayor Greg Brownless. File photo

Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout said he supported the change to single-transferrable vote because it had the potential to deliver more diversity of ethnicity and gender to the council as voters ranked candidates rather than checking a box.

"It's good for democracy. I'm not too fazed by the fact that it hadn't had a full public consultation."

All three elected members said they would not be surprised to see more polls or referendums proposed in the lead-up to the byelection, and all had heard talk of a possible museum referendum.

Tauranga Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout. File photo

Clout said he was giving the prospect "favourable consideration".

Baldock, who spearheaded the charge towards the council's decision to move forward with a standalone museum at Cliff Rd, said he was not sure the issue was suitable for a referendum due to its complexity and the vast amount of information councillors saw before voting.