Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) passes second reading

The Local Electoral Amendment Bill (No 2) which amends the rules for local authority elections has passed its second reading in Parliament.

Local Government Minister Chris Tremain says the Bill’s amendments are designed to instil high levels of public confidence in the integrity of local authority elections.

“The Bill makes three key changes to the Local Electoral Act. It tightens and increases transparency around campaign donations, it streamlines pre-election processes and it improves the availability of information about candidates.

“The public rightfully expects high levels of transparency and confidence in the conduct of all public elections.  For this reason the Government is keen to progress this Bill in time for the next local authority elections on 12 October this year.”

Local authority elections cover the elections of representatives to regional councils, district councils, city councils, unitary authorities, community boards, local boards, district health boards, licensing trusts and community trusts.

“At the last elections in 2010, over 2.9 million postal voting packs were delivered.  Electors voted for more than 1800 representatives on more than 250 local authorities. The extent of local authority elections means the changes the Bill will make are very important,” says Mr Tremain.

“I would like to thank the Justice and Electoral Committee for its work considering and amending the Bill.  The changes they made have meant the Bill is clear and more consistent with the rules for parliamentary candidates.”