This will affect KCDC, particularly with all the iwi members it has appointed.

from ACT:

This effectively adopts the Member’s Bill I drafted and urged the Local Government Minister to adopt in September last year.

At the time, he said he had other priorities. But for ACT, democracy is fundamental, so we kept pushing.

Today’s change means unelected appointees will no longer be able to vote on decisions affecting your rates, your property, and your community.

This is a major ACT win in the pushback against co-governance in local government.

Back in April, David warned you that councils across New Zealand were quietly handing voting rights to unelected appointees. In some cases, iwi representatives and other appointees were being given the power to sit alongside elected councillors and vote on council committees – despite never appearing on a ballot.

In the Far North, ten unelected iwi and hapū representatives were appointed with voting rights to a committee alongside six elected members. In Hastings, Youth Councillors were given voting rights on subcommittees. In Wellington, Invercargill, Kāpiti, Tasman, and elsewhere, councils have been moving in the same direction.

ACT said this was wrong.

And it wasn’t just ACT MPs saying it from Wellington.

ACT Local councillors were standing up around the country, often in lonely votes, against the co-governance push.

In the Far North, Councillor Davina Smolders stood firm against unelected hapū representatives being given full voting rights on a council committee, even as protestors crowded the chamber and pressure mounted against her.

At Otago Regional Council, Councillor Robbie Byars pushed back against mana whenua membership in proposed governance structures and argued voting membership should be confined to elected representatives.

At New Plymouth District Council, Councillor Damon Fox pushed for proper scrutiny of ratepayer-funded arrangements with Puketapu Hapū and challenged the idea that councils should quietly build special governance roles without clear accountability to voters.

Davina, Robbie, Damon, and other ACT Local representatives helped expose what was happening at the council table. They saw the democratic backslide up close, pushed back locally, and helped our MPs take the fight to Parliament.

I’m pleased the Local Government Minister has finally come around to my Bill, and I look forward to working constructively with him to make sure it’s watertight.

The people pushing co-governance in local government were counting on Parliament deciding this fight was too hard or too controversial. ACT proved them wrong.

Today’s announcement is a victory for every New Zealander who believes democracy means one person, one vote – not political power handed out by appointment.

Your support made this possible.

Thank you,

Cameron Luxton ACT List MP Local Government Spokesperson