There are 165 provisional nominations for 62 political positions in Northland.
Northland’s Bay of Islands-Whangaroa voters will be spoilt for choice in the upcoming elections.
There will be six times more local election candidates than seats in the area’s district and regional councils.
Seventeen candidates will be duking it out for three seats: a dozen are fighting for Far North District Council (FNDC)’s two Bay of Islands-Whangaroa general ward positions, while six candidates are contesting the single seat in Northland Regional Council (NRC)’s Bay of Islands-Whangaroa general constituency.
The situation occurs against a backdrop of the region having three times more provisional nominations overall than councillor/mayor positions.
They are among 165 nominations for 62 political positions – three mayors, 40 councillors and 19 community board members – with eventually a regional council chair.
Northland’s next most intense election battle is in another FNDC electoral area – Te Hiku general ward. Nine people have put their hats into the ring for its two seats, including prominent Kāitāia businessman and winemaker Monty Knight.
Close behind, Kaipara District Council (KDC)’s new Wairoa general ward has 4.3 times more candidates than its three positions.
Meanwhile, Whangārei District Council (WDC)’s Hikurangi coastal general ward and KDC’s Otamatea general ward have 3.5 times more candidates than their two positions.
WDC’s Whangārei urban general ward has 3.4 times more, and the council’s Bream Bay and Whangārei Heads general wards three times more.
These areas are among the North’s 34 electoral areas, all of which have more contenders than positions available.
NRC’s Mid North general constituency is the sole councillor exception, where the council’s current chairman Geoff Crawford will be elected unopposed.
Nominations for the 2025 local elections closed on Friday, August 1 and were still to be confirmed at publication deadline.
Eleven people want to be a mayor in Northland.
Five are fighting for the Whangārei mayoralty, four for the Kaipara mayoralty and three for the Far North mayoralty.
Whangārei’s mayoralty is the most hotly contested in the region, with incumbent Mayor Vince Cocurullo, councillors Ken Couper and Marie Olsen, and Brad Flower and Fiona Green standing.
Kaipara’s former Mayor Dr Jason Smith has thrown his hat into the ring for a return term after departing in 2022. Current Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, councillor Ash Nayyar and newcomer Snow Tane are also running.
The Far North’s mayoral hopefuls are sitting Mayor Moko Tepania, former deputy mayor and current councillor Ann Court, and Joshua Riley.
Tepania and Court went neck and neck in the 2022 local election mayoral race.
Northland results show 165 candidates contesting 62 positions in the region’s elections.
The 132 nominees standing as councillors or mayors for 43 positions make up 80% of nominations. The balance of 33 nominations is seeking the Far North’s 19 community board roles.
One Northland byelection is potentially on the cards.
FNDC’s Te Hiku community board incumbent Bill Subritzky is the sole candidate in the Whatuwhiwhi subdivision but has also thrown his hat into the ring to be a councillor in the council’s Te Hiku general ward.
Current Kaikohe-Hokianga community board chairwoman Chicky Rudkin and Bay of Islands-Whangaroa community board member Tyler Ian Bamber are also tilting at a councillor position, as well as returning to their current boards.
October’s election will bring just a handful of departures from the ranks of Northland’s 44 sitting councillors.
Most notable is Northland’s longest-serving current local politician.
Whangārei’s Deputy Mayor Phil Halse (75) is not seeking re-election, after 33 consecutive years in local politics since 1992 and 11 council terms.
In contrast, long-timer FNDC’s Ann Court is staying on, standing for her 10th local government term.
She is part of a trio standing on FNDC’s first team election plank, which also featureds Bamber and newcomer Shell Wilson combining on local governance.
Court is stepping into a second Far North mayoral contest against incumbent Tepania, after the pair’s close-fought 2022 election battle that saw her narrowly nudged out of the top position at the eleventh hour.
Whangārei’s Chrichton Christie is having another tilt at getting back into the WDC political arena as a councillor, following a lengthy previous period in that role.
Meanwhile, Northland’s eight Māori ward councillors – whose three electoral areas are continuing for at least 2025-28 – are standing for a second term.
They are among 14 Māori ward candidates for seven jobs – NRC topping the competition numbers with four Te Raki Māori ward candidates, including newcomer and former Waitangi National Trust chairman Pita Tipene, contesting two positions.
FNDC’s Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori ward has seven vying for four positions, while WDC’s Whangārei District Māori ward has three candidates seeking two positions.
These electoral areas and their councillors face a potentially uncertain future as communities are polled on whether these wards should survive beyond 2028.
KDC’s Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward will end at the October elections after the council canned the electoral area in August 2024.
Northland’s 165 local government candidates are standing to serve a vast range of different communities across the region’s 200,000 people and 12,548sq km from Cape Rēinga in the north to around Kaiwaka in the south.
Their confirmed nominations are out this month. The elections are on October 11.
Whangārei District Council
WDC has a mayor and 13 politicians across six wards;
44 candidates including five for mayor and 31 for 13 councillor positions
Mayor
Vince Cocurullo, Ken Couper (independent), Brad Flower (independent), Fiona Green, Marie Olsen (independent)
Bream Bay general ward
(2) David Baldwin, Ken Couper (independent), Paul Grace, Simon Schuster, Shilane Shirkey, Matthew Yovich (Act Local)
Hikurangi-Coastal general ward (2) Chanelle Armstrong, Susy Bretherton, Norma Margaret De Langen (independent), Ren Haskell, Vicky Humphreys, Stephen Gregory Martin (independent), Scott McKenzie
Mangakahia-Maungatapere general ward (1) Simon Reid (independent), Tim Robinson
Whangārei Heads general ward (1) Tangiwai Baker, Spence Penney, Jon Twyman, Anthony Huon Wild
Whangārei Urban general ward (5) Jesse Card (independent), Chrichton Christie, Nicholas Hunter Connop, Philip George Cullen, Tony Dingle (independent), Tiana Epati, Brad Flower (independent), Jayne Golightly (independent), Paul Gosling (independent), Gabriel Anthony Wilhelm Henry, Heath Kewene, Marie Olsen (independent), Julie Pepper, Carol Peters, Jodie Rameka, Adam Young (independent), Paul Yovich (independent)
Whangārei District Māori ward (2) Deb Harding, Phoenix Ruka, Sheila Taylor
Kaipara District Council
KDC has a mayor and eight politicians across three wards
32 candidates including four for mayor and 28 councillors
Mayor – Jonathan Larsen (independent), Ash Nayyar (independent), Jason Smith (independent), Snow Tane (independent)
Kaiwaka-Mangawhai general ward (3): Stephen Albert Allen, Ron Berking, Luke Kenneth Canton, Craig Jepson (independent), Nima Maleiki (Act Local), Wiremu Paikea, Helen Price, Rachael Williams (independent)
Otamatea general ward (2): Roger James Billington (Act Local), Joel Bouzaid, Fiona Kemp, Denise Anne Rogers, Mike Schimanski (independent), Mark Gregory Vincent, Stephen Wood
Wairoa general ward (3): Jan Beatty, Matthew Stephen John Brajkovich (independent), Neil Robert Doherty, Rodney Field, Brian Douglas Jackson, Wero Te Kino, Gordon Lambeth, Joesephine Nathan, Ash Nayyar (independent), Pera Paniora, Kurt Richards, Snow Tane, Gordon Walker
Far North District Council
FNDC has a mayor and 10 councillors across four wards. It also has 19 community board members across three community boards with 13 subdivisions
There are 66 candidates for FNDC’s 30 political positions – 33 nominations for mayor and 10 councillors, and 33 nominations for 19 positions on three community boards with 13 subdivisions
Mayor – Ann Court, Joshua Riley (Sovereign), Moko Tepania
Te Hiku general ward (2): Rachel Baucke, Eddie Bellas, Felicity Foy (independent), Adele Gardner, Monty Knight, John Joseph Matthews (independent), Garreth Wayne Oien, Mark Shanks (independent), Bill Subritzky (independent)
Bay of Islands-Whangaroa general ward (2): Tyler Ian Bamber (Your Voice Our Community), Stuart Beaven, Ann Court (Your Voice Our Community), Geoff Hughes, Steve McNally, Jonathan Natusch (independent), Ray Pitch, Joshua Riley (Sovereign), Davina Smolders (Act Local), Kelly Anne Stratford, Shell Wilson (Your Voice Our Community), Ross George Yeager (independent)
Kaikohe-Hokianga general ward (2): Michael Feyen, John Vujcich
Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori ward (4): Arohanui Takangaroa Allen, Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, Babe Kapa, Shelly Kawiti-Jessop (independent), Penetaui Kleskovic, Tāmati Rākena, Chicky Rudkin
FNDC community boards
FNDC Bay of Islands-Whangaroa community board – 10 candidates for seven positions across six subdivisions
Kawakawa-Moerewa subdivison (1): Roddy Hapati Pihema
Kerikeri subdivision (2): Jo Alexander, Francesca Ancillotti, Dane Hawker
Paihia subdivision (1): Belinda Ward (independent)
Russell-Ōpua subdivision (1): Jane Hilary Sarah Hindle (independent)
Whangaroa subdivision (1): Korey Atama, Anne Gates
Waipapa subdivision (1): Tyler Ian Bamber (Your Voice Our Community), Rob Savage
FNDC Kaikohe-Hokianga community board – 11 candidates for six positions across three subdivisions
Kaikohe subdivision (3): Edward Court, Mike Edmonds, Hana Kingi, Scarlet Romaine Mokaraka, Chicky Rudkin, Kelly van Gaalen
North Hokianga subdivision (1): Ann-Marie Houng Lee (independent), Doug Te Wake
South Hokianga subdivision (2): Jessie McVeagh, Denis Orme, Elyse King Williams
FNDC Te Hiku community board – 12 candidates for six positions across four subdivisions
Doubtless Bay subdivision (1): Eddie Bellas, Chev Reti
Kaitāia subdivision (3): Rachel Baucke, Trevor Beatson, Adele Gardner, Roberta Grbich, John Stewart, Mike Te Wake, Matt Wright (independent)
North Cape subdivision (1): Darren Carl Axe, Krystal-Rose Taaffe
Whatuwhiwhi subdivision (1): Bill Subritzky (independent)
Northland Regional Council
NRC has nine politicians (a chair chosen after the elections from among councillors) across six constituencies
There are 23 candidates for nine positions across eight constituencies
Bay of Islands-Whangaroa General Constituency (one vacancy):
Lane Ayr, Karl Barkley (independent), Murray Hosking (independent), Colin (Toss) Kitchen, Nyze Manuel, Jane Wright
Coastal Central General Constituency (one vacancy):
Greg Chalmers, Amy Macdonald (independent)
Coastal South General Constituency (one vacancy):
Robert Goodhue, John Hunt, Rick Stolwerk
Far North General Constituency (one vacancy):
Joe Carr (independent), Reina Tuai Penney, Marty Yuretich (independent)
Kaipara General Constituency (one vacancy):
John Blackwell, Lorraine (Nossi) Norris (independent)
Mid North General Constituency (one vacancy):
Geoff Crawford (independent)
Te Raki Māori Constituency (two vacancies):
Peter-Lucas Jones, Arama Morunga (Te Pāti Māori), Tui Shortland, Pita Tipene
Whangarei Central General Constituency (one vacancy):
Jack Craw (independent), Caroline Davis
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