Empowering local democracy.
The Green Party will back local government to deliver community wellbeing.
Local government plays a vital role in shaping everyday life. When local democracy is strong, communities are stronger too.
Unfortunately, local government is under strain. Councils face growing financial pressure. Democratic engagement is declining and tino rangatiratanga is often sidelined in community decision-making.
At the same time, councils are the frontline of many challenges we face, from climate change to a lack of affordable homes. They are being loaded with new responsibilities — like emergency management — without the proper funding or support to do the job.
This has left councils forced to increase rates and charges to cover basic costs, when communities are already struggling with the high cost of living.
The Green Party will strengthen local democracy and rebuild trust in local decision-making through fairer elections, stronger participation and more community-led processes. We will provide fair and sustainable funding tools, and ensure community wellbeing is at the heart of what local government delivers.
We will work with local government — not against it — and treat councils with the respect they deserve as the democratic voice of their communities. By backing local democracy, we can ensure decisions are made by communities, not for them.
Our plan
- Strengthen local electoral democracy by transferring administration of local government elections to the Electoral Commission, enabling 16-year-olds to vote and requiring the use of a single transferable voting system.
- Reinforce councils’ responsibility to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by making the role of local government as a Te Tiriti partner explicit, and reinstate their ability to keep Māori wards for their districts.
- Reject the proposed rates cap and enable a range of new funding and financing tools, such as a bed levy, congestion charging and GST from rates and growth.
- Ensure that the ‘four wellbeings’ (social, economic, environmental and cultural) are core to the purpose of local government and empower councils by devolving further responsibilities from central government, with appropriate resourcing.
- Enable greater use of community-based decision-making processes — such as citizens’ assemblies — including greater community input in the process for local government reorganisation.