A meeting held on Wednesday saw unelected Iwi appointees reinstated with voting powers on Tauranga City Council committees, following a decision made by councillors in December.

Sam Warren, Local Government Campaigns Manager for the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, said:

“In a democracy, only elected representatives have voting powers on council committees. If it’s not democracy that Mayor Mahé Drysdale wants, he needs to front up to voters.”

“Hiding behind vague pseudo-legal claims that unelected appointees with voting powers are a requirement of both the Resource Management Act and the Treaty won’t work.

"If the Mayor and councillors are confident this is what voters want, then they should put the decision to a referendum. What right do they have to sign away democracy without even asking electors?”

“This comes just days after Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell introduced a Members’ Bill to extend the same protection for equal voting rights in parliamentary elections to local government. At least one politician in Tauranga is on the side of democracy.”

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