Comment: Please enrol to vote in local government elections

Federated Farmers Senior Policy Advisor Nigel Billings. Photo / Supplied

Comment: This year is a local government election year so it is important for you all to enrol to vote, writes Federated Farmers Senior Policy Advisor Nigel Billings.

What happens to a community when only one section of it is making the decisions?

What happens to a community when its governing body is only chosen by a few rather than the many?

It is safe to say people are left out and when people are left out, they are left behind.

This year is a local government election year so it is important for you all to enrol to vote.

Read more from Federated Farmers here.

If you are not enrolled to vote, please get onto that.

Voting is always important, as it is one of the few vehicles you have to take part in how you are governed.

Local government controls a lot of your life. I work in farming; it is getting to the point where I feel like a resource consent may be needed to cover the blades of grass that are grown.

But in all seriousness councils, regional and district, impact us all.

Be you in Whanganui, Horowhenua, or South Taranaki. Councils create the rules in which we must all live by.

They set the price of your council rubbish bags, whether or not you pay for parking on the weekend and they can choose to either maintain your local infrastructure or ignore it, pushing the costs down the road for the next generation.

If you are not enrolled to vote, you miss having a say in how your town, city or settlement is treated.

Empire builders or family dynasties may dominate your council – hardly the healthiest recipe for a functioning democracy or a town that needs to grow.

The only way to shift poor performers out of office is if the public votes them out. As some luminary once said, bad politicians are elected by good citizens who don't vote – yet participation in local elections is generally less than fifty per cent.

The Electoral Commission enrolment campaign starts on July 1. On July 19 candidate nominations open and roll opens for public inspection and the election is on October 12.

If you are not enrolled, you cannot have a say on where your future is.

If you are not at the table, you are the meal.