KEY POINTS:
More than 1300 people unhappy over proposed changes to electorate boundaries have lodged objections with the Representation Commission.
Commission chairman Bernard Kendall said the 331 objections ranged from wanting name changes to putting some communities in different electorates to reflect communities of interest or local authority boundaries.
After
census figures were taken into account the Representation Commission announced in May that Auckland would get a new electorate and 61 existing seats would be changed, with seven renamed.
The number of general seats would rise to 63 and the number of lists seats drop by one, with no change to the number of Maori seats at seven.
The most objections for a single electorate was 58 for the proposed new Pakuranga electorate attracted.
Including working class suburbs Glen Innes and Panmure in the electorate, the disruption of an established community of interest with Howick, and support for maintaining the Tamaki estuary as a natural boundary were main concerns.
Objections in the proposed Hunua electorate included wanting the Beachlands/Maraetai and Whitford areas to be part of the Howick electorate and Hingaia (west of the motorway) and the Clevedon Ward of Manukau City to be included in the Papakura electorate. The 17 objections asked for an electorate name change to Franklin.
Fourteen objections were made about the proposed Manurewa electorate, including two petitions, one with more than 400 signatures and one with more than 100. A number of objections supported parts of the proposed Manurewa electorate being placed in other electorates and ensuring communities of interest are kept together in electorates.
Some submissions proposed including Mission Heights and Flat Bush and surrounds in the Howick electorate. Others proposed including Weymouth and surrounds in the Manurewa electorate rather than the Papakura electorate and including Manara Place in the Papakura or Hunua electorate.
The proposed Piako electorate received 13 objections. These included wanting the name changed to Waikato and objection to the inclusion of parts of Paparimu in the electorate.
The eleven objections to the proposed Wairarapa electorate were about including Waipukurau and parts of the Central Hawke's Bay and about its name.
The proposed enlarged Napier electorate attracted 39 objections. Common issues were including communities and locations in the north of the proposed electorate, with the suggestion that they should be in the East Coast electorate.
Objections have been made to including north of the Wharerata Ranges, the Cook Ward of the Gisborne District Council, the Poverty Bay Flats, Patutahi and the Tiniroto District in the Napier electorate.
In the South Island, the 22 objections on the proposed new Waitaki electorate mainly focused on excluding Timaru from the electorate and including Geraldine, Central Otago and South Canterbury in it.
In the proposed Selwyn electorate, 16 objections were made about including suburbs such as Westmorland, Bishopdale and part of Papanui in the electorate.
Concern about the inclusion of Wakefield in the West Coast Tasman electorate dominated objections about that proposed boundary. The 14 objections on the issue included a petition signed by more than 500 people. Many people said Wakefield's community of interest was with Nelson.
The proposed Christchurch Central electorate attracted 13 objections, mainly concerning the inclusion of parts of Papanui in the electorate.
Eleven objections were made about the proposed Clutha-Southland electorate. These included objections to the name and to including Mataura and Roxburgh in the electorate.
Other electorates recorded less than 10 objections.
A summary of the objections is available online at www.elections.org.nz and people have until 28 June to respond to objections.
The 331 objections compared with 199 objections received when the boundaries were last redrawn, in 2002.
The Representation Commission would hold public hearings between 16 and 27 July, with final boundaries released on 26 September 2007.
- NZPA
