Mayors in New Zealand
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Mayors in New Zealand are the directly elected leaders of New Zealand's territorial authorities. They chair local council meetings and have limited executive powers, including the ability to appoint a deputy mayor, establish committees, and select chairpersons for said committees. Their constitutional role, as laid out in the Local Government Act 2002, is to provide leadership to their councillors and citizens of their districts, and to guide the direction of council plans and policies. Mayors are elected using either the first-past-the-post or single transferable vote system.
There are currently 67 mayors, and they are formally styled His/Her Worship.
Powers and responsibilities
[edit]Currently, all of New Zealand's territorial authorities are headed by a directly-elected mayor. This set up goes back to the 1989 local government reforms.[1] Prior to 1989, there were 850 authorities at various levels with varying powers and responsibilities. Now there are 78 bodies, 61 excluding regional councils (which do not have mayors).[2]
When the councils surrounding Auckland were merged in 2010, a more defined set of powers for mayors in all parts of the country was implemented into the existing Local Government Act 2002.[3] Mayors now could appoint deputy mayors, as well as designate which councillors would chair and lead the various committees that ran the business of council. These new powers did raise concern though, with no mayoral veto, councils where the mayor lacked majority support could crawl to a halt as councillors pushed against the agenda of the mayor. Such dysfunctionality has reportedly occurred in several councils, including recently in Wellington and Tauranga.[4] These changes were not seen to effect the way mayors operated in actual practice.[5]
Mayors in New Zealand are considered weak in terms of the level of executive power they can wield, as granted to them via legislation. Councils are empowered to endeavour to achieve the "four well-beings", specifically the social, environmental, cultural, and economic health of their communities.This has been described as the "power of general competence."[6] In general, council responsibilities include local roads, water management, waste management, public services such as libraries, and district parks.[7]
Mayors report that they utilise de facto powers to achieve their goals as leaders, including their ability to build relationships with their communities, other councillors, mana whenua, and central government. Achieving consensus is key to the ability of a mayor to govern.[1] The relationship between a mayor and a council's chief executive officer was reported by mayors as important in shaping and delivering policy.[8] Mayors that worked closely with their councillors, those that built personal relationships and trust, were more successful at seeing their policies and goals to fruition than those that took a more hard line, less co-operative approach. Councillors regarded informal conversations and meeting opportunities with the mayor as important.[5]
Local authorities are granted "unusually" high levels of financial autonomy;[6] councils are limited in their means of raising revenue, something at least one mayor pointed to as a concern as it can limit their ability to achieve policy goals.[9] Unlike local bodies in other countries, the central government provides a minute fraction of a council's income, with upwards of 80% coming from rates.[6]
Councillors and mayors in New Zealand are not usually affiliated with political parties,[10] leading to challenges with reaching consensus amongst people elected on individual-mandates. The intrusion of party politics into local government is commonly seen as distasteful, though there has been a rise of affiliated candidates in Auckland and Christchurch since 2007.[11] A balance must be navigated between the mandate given to the mayor from the public and the political reality of working with a team of disparate people.[8]
Explicit corruption at the local level has not been seen to be a major issue, though the absence of a party structure has been seen as something that could lead to a greater risk of clientelism, with members potentially showing favour to supporters and disfavour to opponents. In a survey, 22% of councillors perceived mayors as using appointments in this way, whereas 17% of mayors said they did so.[9]
It is common for former members of parliament running in local elections to run as independents, despite having been an elected member of a political party and retaining their party membership, leading to concerns over a lack of transparency and credibility.[12]
Mayors face uncertainty in what their role can look like, in part due to central government involvement. Central government has appointed commissioners and other oversight mechanisms in the past when, in their view, a council was not functioning. This ability for central government to be involved has been linked to lessened interest amongst the general populace with local governance.[9]
Mayors are expected to follow a code of conduct.[9]
Legislation
[edit]The principal legislation outlining the formal and constitutional powers and responsibilities of the mayor is the Local Government Act 2002, specifically section 41A.[8]
The mayor is to provide leadership to the councillors and people of the district,[13] and to lead the development of the council's plans and policies.[14] The explicit powers granted to the mayor are the ability to appoint a deputy mayor, the ability to establish council committees and appoint chairpersons to said committees.[15] These powers are limited by councillors explicit ability to remove the deputy mayor, and to discharge and/or create committees, as well as remove any chairpersons appointed by the mayor.[16] The mayor is an ex officio member of all committees.[17] The mayor cannot delegate any of their powers.[18] If a mayor declines to use their powers to appoint a deputy or a chairperson, the provisions for their election are outlined in clause 17(1) of Schedule 7 and clauses 25 and 26(3) of Schedule 7, respectively.[19]
Electoral system
[edit]Local government elections are held every three years. All mayors are currently elected at-large.[6] News coverage of local elections tends to focus on the mayoral race, with higher profile elections and candidates for the mayoralty leading to higher turnout overall.[2] The majority of elections since 1989 have been via postal voting.[20]
Two electoral systems are used at the local level within New Zealand, first-past-the-post (FPTP) and single transferable vote (STV).[10] In FPTP, voters pick one candidate and the candidate with the most votes wins, even if they have not achieved a majority. In STV, voters rank the candidates and then preferences are tallied. The candidate with the least votes is eliminated and their second preferences are divvied out. This continues until one candidate has a majority. Currently most local councils use FPTP.[12] Councils themselves can decide with each election what system they will use at the next election.[21] On average, elections with STV systems saw 1 additional candidate. Incumbent mayors are more likely to be defeated under STV. Māori candidates for local government positions who were on the Māori electoral roll were less successful than Māori and non-Māori on the general roll, whilst female candidates were more successful than male candidates. Women were under-nominated compared to men for local office relative to their population.[22]
Candidates for mayor must meet the criteria that are required to be met by all local government candidates. These include being a citizen of New Zealand, securing the nominations of two people registered within the area, and paying a deposit of $200.[23]
Participation in local government elections has decreased over the past decade, with fewer people voting in subsequent elections. This has led to concerns around the extant to which democracy exists at the local level.[6] The numerous examples of uncontested mayoral elections is seen as a symptom and cause of lowered turnout.[24] There is the perception that local government serves ratepayers, the property owning class.[2]
The most recent elections were held in 2022.[25] Tauranga had a mayoral election in 2024 following a period under commission.[26]
Demographics
[edit]Mayors (and councillors generally) are disproportionally Pākehā and male. The Human Rights Commission has called the under-representation of Māori in local government "one of the top ten race relations challenges" in the country.[7]
List of current mayors
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Notable mayors
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Georgina Beyer
[edit]Beyer (1957–2023) was the world's first openly transgender mayor.[28] First elected to the Carterton District Council in 1993, she went on to win the mayoral elections of 1995 and 1998. She was later the Labour MP for Wairarapa from 1999 to 2005, and then a List MP until she retired in 2007.[28]
Percy Maranui Murphy
[edit]Murphy (1924–2009) was the country's first Māori mayor. His iwi was Ngāti Manawa and he was their last member to serve as a soldier in the 28th Māori Battalion, having enlisted at the age of 16. He served on the Murupara Borough Council and then was the mayor of Murupara from 1960 to 1969. He was very involved with his iwi and his marae after being mayor.[29]
Tim Shadbolt
[edit]Shadbolt (b. 1947) is the country's longest serving mayor and a national icon. He served for eight terms as mayor of Invercargill, almost continuously since first being elected in 1993.[30] He was also previously mayor of Waitemata.[31] He failed to win re-election in 2022.[30]
Elizabeth Yates
[edit]Yates (1840–1918) was the first female mayor in the British Empire. After her husband stood down from being the mayor of Onehunga, she was nominated for the office and then stood in and won the 1893 mayoral election against only one other opponent. She received congratulations from Premier Richard Seddon and Queen Victoria. She lost the subsequent 1894 election, serving less than a year.[32]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Mahoney 2021, p. 80.
- ^ a b c Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 83.
- ^ Mahoney 2021, p. 80–81.
- ^ Mahoney 2021, p. 81.
- ^ a b Mahoney 2021, p. 84.
- ^ a b c d e Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 80.
- ^ a b Vowles & Hayward 2021, p. 231.
- ^ a b c Mahoney 2021, p. 82.
- ^ a b c d Mahoney 2021, p. 83.
- ^ a b Vowles & Hayward 2021, p. 226.
- ^ Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 84.
- ^ a b Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 88.
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(1).
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(2)
- ^ Local Government Act 2022, s 41A(3)
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(4)
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(5)
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(6)
- ^ Local Government Act 2002, s 41A(7)
- ^ Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 85.
- ^ Vowles & Hayward 2021, p. 230.
- ^ Vowles & Hayward, p. 234–235.
- ^ Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 89.
- ^ Asquith, Webster & Cardow 2021, p. 87.
- ^ "Key dates". Vote 2022 – Local Elections. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ Kirkby-McLeod, Libby (20 July 2024). "Tauranga by-election results: Olympian Mahé Drysdale set to become mayor". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ "2023 Census population counts (by ethnic group, age, and Māori descent) and dwelling counts". StatsNZ. 29 May 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
- ^ a b "World's first openly transgender mayor and MP, Georgina Beyer, has died". Radio New Zealand. 6 March 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ NZPA (5 May 2009). "NZ's first Maori mayor dies". NZHerald. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ a b Sowman-Lund, Stewart (30 November 2023). "Invercargill Airport to be renamed for Tim Shadbolt". The Spinoff. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ "'End of an era': Sir Tim Shadbolt farewelled in his most likely last meeting as Invercargill mayor". Stuff. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
- ^ Mogford, Janice C. (1993). "Yates, Elizabeth". Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
Sources
[edit]- Mahoney, Seán (25 November 2021). "Leading Locally: How New Zealand's mayors get things done". Policy Quarterly. 17 (4): 80–86. doi:10.26686/pq.v17i4.7324.
- Local Government Act 2002
- Asquith, Andy; Webster, Karen; Cardow, Andrew (28 June 2021). "Voting in New Zealand local government elections: the need to encourage greater voter turnout". Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance (24): 79–97. doi:10.5130/cjlg.vi24.7541.
- Vowles, Jack; Hayward, Janine (September 2021). "Ballot structure, district magnitude and descriptive representation: the case of New Zealand local council elections". Australian Journal of Political Science. 56 (3): 225–244. doi:10.1080/10361146.2021.1935449. ISSN 1036-1146.