Wairoa people are encouraged to have their say on how they would like Council representation to look in the future.

A representation review is underway which will set the scene for the 2025 and 2028 local government elections.

The council is seeking feedback on how many councillors we should have, whether they are elected from wards, districtwide or a combination of both, whether the district has Community Boards, and how the general and Māori wards fit together.

The current Wairoa District Council representation is:

• One Māori ward and one General ward
• Three councillors – elected by all voters of the district enrolled on the Māori Electoral Roll
• Three councillors – elected by all voters enrolled on the General Electoral Roll
• Mayor – elected by all voters of the district enrolled on either the Māori or General Rolls
• No community boards

Representation arrangements need to be fair, effective, and representative. Geographic areas (wards) should be divided so that each councillor represents roughly the same number of people while ensuring communities of interest, such as urban, rural, isolated, or centralised, are represented.

Councillors can be elected from wards (including district-wide), ‘at large’ (by all electors in the district, irrespective of whether they are on the General or Māori Roll) or a mixture.

The last review of representation arrangements was undertaken in 2018 (for the 2019 and 2022 triennial elections).

At this stage, the Council is seeking early feedback on how the community thinks representation should look. Your feedback will help shape the Council’s initial representation arrangement proposal, which will be returned to the community for consultation in July/August.

For more information and to have your say, please head to:   Representation Review | WDC Consultations

23 May 2024

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