The timeline
Voting in this year's local council and district health board elections will take place from Friday 21 September until Saturday 13 October 2007 by postal voting. The local elections happen every three years and everyone on the electoral roll (which is the same for both local and national elections) can vote. Election results will be available progressively from 13 October on www.localgovt.co.nz
Scale of Local Government
New Zealand has 73 territorial authorities, including 16 city councils and 57 district councils, and 143 community boards. City councils and district councils provide local services such as water, rubbish collection and disposal, sewage treatment, parks, reserves, street lighting, roads and libraries. They process building and environmental consents and administer other regulatory tasks. Community boards focus on matters affecting your immediate community and representing these to the full city or district council.
New Zealand's 12 regional councils are responsible for natural resources, environmental planning and all regulations administered at a regional level. District health boards (DHBs) are responsible for the delivery of publicly funded health and disability support services for an area. DHB elections give the community the opportunity to elect seven of the 11 board members for each of the 21 boards around the country. All DHB elections use STV - this stands for Single Transferable Vote, which in its simplest form involves ranking candidates in order of preference. (Only eight councils use STV).
Making use of this Resource
This resource is intended as a "toolkit" that you can use to build up your own knowledge as a basis for taking action during and after the Local Government Elections. The suggested approach is to download a candidate list for your region as a starting point. From there you can take actions such as inviting candidates to visit your organisation, hosting a wider meeting or simply following up opportunities to question policy agendas as they relate to the community and voluntary sector.
Tips for Talking to Local Government (pdf) - an information sheet for use in talking with election candidates and/ or standing representatives.
- City Councils
- District Councils
- Regional Councils
Link to List of candidates for all 21 District Health Boards, with an explanation of how to vote using your Single Transferable Vote (STV).
Pogramme on Local Government elections, Councils and the Community sector; link to Programme Information (Episode 2: 1 September 2007)
- Poll results and analysis (July 2007)
- 2007 Local Government Election page
- www.kidsvoting.org.nz (Year 9 students vote for real candidates, on a real ballot paper, and compare the results from the Kids election with the results of the real election).
The 2004 candidates survey and a guide promoted to prospective 2007 candidates
Local government and community policy - central government agency involvement
- DIA - Local Government and Community Branch
- DIA - local & central government interface team
- As well as the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) other central government agencies with a close interest in Local Government and accountability include: the Office of the Controller and Auditor General, Local Government Commission, the Ombudsmen and the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
PARTNERING
INITITATIVES
In July 2007, Putting Pen to Paper: Profiles (a set of case studies) was published as the second resource in the Putting Pen to Paper series. It illustrates some real experiences of partnering, and was published in consultation with Megan Courtney, Partnering Advisor, Waitakere City Council. It is not yet available to download online, though copies can be requested by sending an email to GrantsOnline@dia.govt.nz
Related resources that are available online include:
- (2006) Putting pen to paper Creating partnering agreements that work (large pdf)
- Powerpoint about Putting pen to paper and a Workshop presentation
- Other links related to Community Outcomes Processes - Department of Internal Affairs / www.localcentral.govt.nz
September 2006: Earlier in the year ComVoices issued a backgrounder to tax issues. Since then the main issues have been progressing, especially with regard to the proposed changes to the tax regime for charities. This update contains key information for all voluntary organisations about the tax rebate review for charities.
May 2006: This briefing paper provides and good overview of the current tax system for Tanagta Whenua, community and vountary organisations and outlines the changes to be expected through legislation.
June 2006: A quick overview of ComVoices. More information on the project can be found in the 'about us' section of this website.
May 2006: This years budget sees ongoing commitment to tackle key social issues in New Zealand. This document outlines what funding commitments have been announced and over what period.
March 2006: COmVOiceS identifies and works on four core areas which have immediate relevance across the sector: understanding the value of the sector, funding and sustainability; independence of the sector and tax. The project developed key messages on each core issue to underline its importance.
Communications Toolkit [PDF only]
ComVoices is committed to making its resources available to the sector, especially at regional and local levels. Many organisations are often too small to operate a dedicated media / communications function. As a result, smaller organisations miss out opportunities to promote their work through the media. With this communications toolkit, COmVOiceS outlines the basic principles for identifying 'news' opportunities and to generate media interest and coverage.
Compendium of notes from meetings with political parties [pdf only]
October 2005: In the run up to the September general elections, COmVOiceS requested meetings with all political parties, asking for their community and voluntary sector policies. The notes from these meetings are available from the link above.
Ongoing: A lot of work carried out by the voluntary sector goes unsung. Here, you can find a variety of case studies that highlight the invaluable contribution made by voluntary agencies to New Zealand society.
December 2005: The pilot period for ComVoices came to a conclusion in December. As part of planning its future direction, the working group conducted an evaluation of the project's objectives and outcomes. In this evaluation report you can find a brief overview of the project and what it managed to accomplish.
