Local government
“Local government” is the term used for elected officials and non-elected bureaucratic structures that oversee geographic subparts of New Zealand. The Local Government Act 2002 describes the purpose of local government as twofold:
to enable democratic local decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities; and to promote the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of communities in the present and for the future.
Despite such lofty-sounding statements, it can often feel like there’s really no point in voting, especially in local elections. We can get to this sense by several paths. It can feel like local government is unimportant, that it simply serves as a caretaker for basic infrastructure and that the outcome will be the same regardless of who is granted the role. Or, even if you believe local government is important, it can feel like the candidate options are merely cosmetic and so choosing between those uninspiring options is irrelevant. Or you might recognise that despite slightly better or worse candidate and policy options, all of these choices still just ensure capitalism continues unabated in your geographic region. The sense of pointlessness is reflected in voter turnout, which for local elections has generally declined over several decades, now averaging a mere 42 percent of eligible voters.
It’s worth noting that the category of “eligible voters” is one that changes over time, with Māori and women historically excluded from voting at various times. Who is allowed to vote continues to be contested, with the government’s Electoral Amendment Bill aiming to remove the right to vote from prisoners and people who deputy prime minister David Seymour refers to as “dropkicks.” In contrast, landlords get a vote for each region, district, local board area, and community they own property in, magnifying their influence in local elections. Noticing these injustices, and recognising that these have been and continue to be contested, might begin to stoke a sense that voting isn’t so pointless after all. Let’s take a look at a few of the other issues at stake and why casting your vote is both necessary and also not the endpoint of political activity.
Central Government versus Local Government
Local governments are significantly constrained and directed by the central government, through both legislative adjustments and direct interference. Environmental campaigner Christine Rose, in a 2017 Auckland University of Technology briefing paper, described some of these pressures:
The council is expected to address effects that have causes beyond its making, with funding and other tools limited by government. Central government determines priorities, provides limited subsidy inducements, controls financial operating parameters and pays no rates on significant government land holdings.
Before taking power in 2023, the parties that make up the present coalition central government campaigned against Labour’s Three Waters reform, arguing for local council empowerment and claiming the planned infrastructure reform unreasonably took away local control. This mock concern for local empowerment is now exposed as an obvious sham in light of those parties’ present actions. The coalition central government is actually increasing pressure and restrictions on local government – the effect of which is to undermine the capability of local government and centralise power under the coalition. At the Local Government New Zealand July 2025 conference, central government representatives communicated a message of council “efficiency”, a need to cut “unnecessary projects”, and a potential cap on council rates. This despite local council representatives saying they are already operating efficiently, focussing on “basics”, and spending their budget on essential services.
Another example of central government interference and control efforts: In October 2024, the minister for Local Government Simeon Brown appointed a “Crown Observer” to Wellington City Council, supposedly to ensure “the council is able to function as a governing body”. This observer was appointed after the council voted to retain shares in Wellington Airport following a successful campaign by Unions Wellington, a body of the Council of Trade Unions. The appointment of the observer also represented an attack on Wellington mayor Tory Whanau, a progressive wahine Māori whose campaign had been supported by the Green Party and who therefore represented local opposition to the agendas of parties in central government. Effectively, central government tightened the screws on a council and a mayor that was listening to and responding to public and trade union feedback, but which had stymied privatisation efforts. Local government positions matter when they are supporting grassroots movements against business interests.
The Need to Defend Māori Representation
Alongside the routine election of councillors into local body positions, in 2025 many councils will also be holding a referendum on whether to retain or disestablish their Māori wards. This referendum has been forced by the coalition central government’s 2024 Local Government (Māori Wards) Amendment Bill, and is another of the many ongoing direct attacks on Māori by National, ACT, and New Zealand First.
Māori wards are designated positions in local bodies which can only be voted for by those on the Māori parliamentary electoral roll. In councils where a Māori ward has been established, this effectively ensures at least one “seat at the table” will have been elected by Māori. This is intended to provide an improved likelihood of representation of Māori perspectives compared with councils where Māori are a minority of the local population and may not win any seats at all.
There are some well-meaning arguments against Māori wards. If there was a widespread strong class consciousness, solidarity against the oppression wrought by colonialism, and recognition of the power of unity against our shared oppressors, there might be greater power in Māori voting alongside tauiwi (non-Māori) in all electoral processes rather than in a separate and parallel process. If the Rangatiratanga/ Joint/ Kāwanatanga spheres envisaged by Matike Mai Aotearoa, described in He Puapua, and enacted in various forms of co-governance were better supported and not under attack, the minority voice that Māori ward seats bring would be far less necessary. However, in the current social and political situation, as with the central government’s attacks we must be alert to the many arguments against Māori wards that come from a bad faith, Right wing, racist, colonial perspective. Māori have long fought for electoral representation. We must resist attacks and support Māori wards or other forms of partnership sought by mana whenua.
An example of this issue in action can be seen in the Manawatū District Council, whose councillors established the Ngā Tapuae o Mātangi Māori Ward in 2021. Bridget Bell, running unopposed for that seat, describes the value of Māori wards:
When Māori are at the decision-making table, our district grows stronger. We gain insight, connection, and solutions shaped by lived experience. Our marae, kura (schools), whānau (families) and iwi make significant contributions daily, socially, economically and culturally. Representation simply ensures those contributions are reflected in the decisions that shape our lives.
The Manawatū District Council established that Māori ward despite three-to-one opposition expressed by local voters in a non-binding 2018 referendum. Fortunately, councillors recognised the value of Māori representation and acted to put it into practice, but that 2018 referendum result bodes ill for the outcome of the upcoming binding 2025 referendum. However, a mere 43 percent of people cast a vote in the 2018 referendum and, as with many issues both local and general, it seems very plausible that encouraging greater turnout would strengthen the progressive voice. Successfully pushing back against this attack – successfully defending Māori representation in the form of wards – would demonstrate solidarity, maintain the level of social progress achieved thus far, and build confidence for the ongoing wider fight against racist division and colonial oppression.
But as is the case with all government institutions under capitalism, it’s important to acknowledge that the fight doesn’t end with defending Māori wards. Simply defending “a seat at the table”, when that table exists to maintain the existing exploitative capitalist system, is not enough. Māori liberation will come from a whole series of wins against the oppressive system itself, wins which enable Māori to truly self-determine a future free from the imposition of an imperial “Crown” and free from the capitalist doctrine of exploitation and hoarding.
Fighting Off the Far Right
In 2022, candidates linked to the Covid-19 disinformation group Voices For Freedom (VFF), running for council positions with the goal of making New Zealand “ungovernable”, were encouraged to not disclose those links or intentions. VFF endorsed Kellie Jay Keene (aka Posie Parker) in a prolonged anti-transgender editorial article about her visit and about the “violent rabid (mostly student & unemployed) trans activists” who protested her. VFF’s 2022 Guide to Voting also linked material by Right wing lobby groups the Taxpayers Union, the Free Speech Union, and Federated Farmers. In 2024, The Disinformation Project described the confluence of politics of these groups:
it’s clear that the disinformation networks established or expanded during the pandemic are deeply connected to far-right, neo-Nazi, and accelerationist networks and actors – both domestic and foreign. Disinformation has become both more mainstream, and more connected to wider issues of political and social division, violence, extremism and national security.
Meanwhile, the ACT party is putting forward 46 candidates in these local elections, which represents a significant showing for the more “mainstream” far Right. ACT are campaigning on “taking race out of local politics“ with a “push back against ideological agendas like co-governance”, “scrapping wasteful spending”, and “lower rates”. Reading between the lines, this means anti-Māori and broader racist politics, and prioritising property owners. Considering their millions of dollars in donations, and the devastating effect ACT’s presence in central government is having, this poses a very real threat to local politics across the country.
Charlie Mitchell, writing for the Press, sums up the way in which far Right agendas are being obfuscated behind reasonable-sounding campaign phrases:
There’s nothing inherently sinister or unusual in promoting mainstream concerns. Rates, roads, and efficient council services genuinely matter to many voters. The issue arises not from what these groups discuss, but from what may remain hidden beneath their polished, mainstream veneer […]
ACT’s campaign messages are well aligned with those suggested by Council Watch, a Voices for Freedom front group. The Council Watch 2025 Local Body Handbook suggests their candidates replace “scam, tyranny, corrupt, globalist, NWO, truth-seeker, ‘wake up,’ jab, woke, media lies, agenda 2030” with “plain, mainstream-friendly terms”: “independent, common sense, local voice, practical, accountable, back to basics, community-led, open consultation, transparent, fiscally responsible, standing up for locals.”
The far Right represents a particularly destructive force. Any political gains they make will directly translate into attacks on minority groups such as transgender people, Māori, and migrant labour, and attacks on community well-being such as public health. We cannot allow the far Right to build political strength in any context, and that includes in council political spaces.
In Conclusion
Voting in local elections won’t even remotely fix all of the problems we face, nor is the current formation of local government structures our vision of working class democracy. Central government will remain unchanged. Right wing and racist agitation will continue. Capitalism will remain undefeated. But social progress can be maintained through a combination of encouraging voter turn-out and casting your own votes to retain Māori wards and election of local politicians who stand for collective well-being. A progressive win in local elections means we won’t cede ground, maintaining the material conditions as best as possible for our continued fight, and is a small step to building our confidence and sense of solidarity to take the necessary fight further into the future.
Thanks to ISO comrades Kaakatarau Te Pou Kohere and Rohan Botica for their whakaaro and kōrero, helping ensure this article correctly captures relevant currents.
Image credit: bizoo_n, Getty Images/iStockphoto. CC BY-NC 4.0
