NRC's October 2021 final proposal for how its political representation will look for New Zealand's October 8 2022 local government elections is, however, set to proceed unchanged after the hearing and resulting LGC commissioners' decision.
The commission looked at the number, boundaries and names of the proposed constituencies, along with the proposed number of councillors for each constituency.
The regional council currently has nine councillors. It will have the same number at the October 2022 local government elections. They will represent an electoral population of 194,500.
NRC councillor numbers featured in many of the 33 submissions it received about its October 2021 final representation review. Six supported the proposed nine councillors. Nine wanted more - 10, 11, 12 and 14. One proposed eight councillors.
The LGC hearing commissioners decided in favour of the nine. However, that decision did not come without reference to the use of councillor remuneration not being an ideal driver for the council's decision on the number of politicians.
"We have some reservations on the council's review process. In addition to a focus on effective decision-making rather than effective representation, the council appears to have considered the number of members as the key factor underpinning the review, Duffy said.
"We take this opportunity to highlight that it is communities of interest rather than a preferred number of councillors that should form the basis on which fair and effective representation is considered. We strongly recommend that the council's next review includes a clear demonstration that this is the approach it has taken," Duffy said.
He said NRC had indicated its remuneration consideration was based on ensuring there was a sufficient amount of money available to council politicians to make being a councillor a viable career option. Adequate remuneration would attract younger age groups and people from all backgrounds.
NRC's representation review was done in the wake of its October 2020 decision to bring in a Māori constituency for the first time.
The forthcoming local government elections will see 47,610 people, almost 25 per cent of NRC's Northland electoral population, shift into a new region-wide Māori constituency. This is to be called Te Raki Māori constituency.
There will be 146,900 people across the seven general constituencies - Far North General Constituency, Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Constituency, Kaipara General Constituency, Mid North General Constituency, Coastal Central General Constituency, Whangārei Central General Constituency and Coastal South General Constituency.
Most of these going forward look different geographically from current constituencies, some significantly.
Seven councillors will be elected to represent the seven general constituencies (one from each), with two from the single region-wide Te Raki Māori constituency.
Hearing commissioners said they were concerned about the often-large geographic areas some councillors would have to deal with in the new regime.
Large constituency size is particularly the case with NRC's furthest-north general constituency. The Far North General constituency has significantly increased in geographic size southward to take in large chunks of currently other council constituencies.
The March LGC hearing came after two appeals were received on NRC's final representation proposal. These wanted the number of councillors increased to better ensure effective representation. They also expressed concern that proposed general constituencies' number and boundaries did not ensure effective representation of communities of interest.
Appellants proposed alternative representation arrangements. One was to retain the current nine constituencies, electing nine general constituency councillors rather than the seven settled on. The other was for a single district-wide general constituency. These were considered and rejected by the hearing commissioners who also included Janie Annear and Bonita Bigham.
"Having heard the council's explanation of the region's communities of interest at the hearing, we are satisfied that the proposed constituency boundaries group the region's communities of interest appropriately, " Duffy said.
"As a result, we consider that the proposed number of members and constituency boundaries can provide effective representation for the region's communities of interest, subject to the additional mechanisms outlined by the council chair (Penny Smart)," he said.
He said commissioners shared some of the appeal concerns in relation to the ability of councillors to provide effective representation for constituencies that were in some cases geographically very large.
The additional mechanisms helped address the commission's concerns.
"In our view, the governance structure's inclusion of working parties ... and support for councillors covering geographically large and/or isolated constituencies, are key to ensuring effective representation.
"We consider it would be appropriate for the current council to develop a clear set of recommendations in this regard for the incoming council, " Duffy said.
The Friday April 8 LGC NRC commission decision can be found at https://www.lgc.govt.nz/representation-reviews/current-determinations/
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