The pitiful turn out is lower this year than it was 3 years ago!
How dare Wayne Brown pretend he has any mandate to do anything when barely 200 000 bothered to vote!
All Auckland is about to get from Mr Fixit is congestion charges that will cripple working men and women trying to get to their jobs!
The racist anti-Māori ward debate led by Hobson’s Pledge and managed by the Taxpayers’ Union has made the following Councils racist redneck scumbags by voting against Māori wards:
- Whangarei District Council
- Hauraki District Council
- Thames-Coromandel District Council
- Matamata-Piako District Council
- Waikato District Council
- Waipa District Council
- Ōtorohanga District Council
- Western Bay of Plenty District Council
- Taupo District Council
- Hastings District Council
- Napier City Council
- Central Hawke’s Bay District Council
- Tararua District Council
- Rangitikei District Council
- Manawatu District Council
- New Plymouth District Council
- Stratford District Council
- South Taranaki District Council
- Horowhenua District Council
- Tasman District Counci
- Marlborough District Council
- Northland Regional Council
- Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
- Horizons Regional Council
- Taranaki Regional Council
The white man marches on!
A curse on all those rednecks!
The vast number of Kiwis do not known that our local democracy has been privatised to just 2 private companies, it is NOT run by the Electoral Commission!
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Election Services – an Auckland-based company that runs elections for Auckland Council and several other North Island councils.
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electionz.com – a Christchurch-based company that provides election services (including postal voting and online voting systems) for many South Island and some North Island councils.
Look at the impact of privatising local elections over that time on participation rates:
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1992–1998: turnout in the 50–55% range.
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2001 (Local Electoral Act introduced, outsourcing becoming the norm): turnout dropped to ~47%.
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2004–2010: around 43–49%.
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2013–2019: fell further to 39–42%.
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2022: hit a modern low of ~36% nationwide.
- 2025 – barely 30%
Ever since we privatised our local elections, turn out has crashed, and that’s because these two private companies don’t care about the participation rate, they care about making money on their contracts!
By outsourcing our local elections to private companies, we have destroyed our participation rates, it is time to remove all contracts from these two companies and take the elections back into the Electoral Commission and run them with the same level of funding we run National Elections!
More participation guarantees that quality of democracy, less allows Right Wing Hate groups to dominate.
Bryce Edwards makes the point that Local Elections are utterly dominated by the polluter industry using astroturf organisations to trick you into voting for them…
…people don’t comprehend that the rates cap, Groundswell, anti-environmental measures and small Government morality is all part of a cleverly constructed con job to trick you into agreeing to their agenda while pretending to respond to your anger that they whip up!
The Left simply have none of the sophistication (or funding) of these astroturf organisations and that’s why and how they outmanoeuvre us in elections.
ACT having rich culture war arseholes self fund their own campaigns is perfect branding for their niche of bigotry while Taxpayers’ Union give most bang for Federated Farmer, NZ Initiative and Hobsons Pledge buck.
In 2025, weaponised apathy was the winner – actual democracy was the loser.
No one has any mandate to do anything when participation rates are this pathetic.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
At this point the privatisation of our election process is market failure. 40 years to prove the market can’t actually do it better. Who would have thought, oh wait, anyone who has read a history book.
Stale pale is the winner .People that did not vote can not complain about the out come .The sad thing is Maori did not step up and save the Maori wards or vote for Maori candidates .
Another three years of kicking the can and going back in time .
If anyone received a ballot paper and didn’t use it to support maori wards or centre- left+ candidates then cry all you like because you get what other people voted for.
If Brown won the mayoral chains in Auckland he has the mandate to do whatever the fuck he can persuade half the councilors to agree to.
100%
” weaponised apathy is the winner ”
I asked :
“Is it compulsory to vote in New Zealand local body elections.”
AI went…
Thinking…
Searching…
Then Ta Da!
” No, voting is not compulsory in New Zealand local body elections, nor is it compulsory for general (parliamentary) elections.
However, enrolling to vote is compulsory if you are eligible (a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, aged 18 or older, and have lived in New Zealand for more than one year continuously at some time in your life). ”
That means that advertisers can target you via your lazy-cunt politicians anytime they like by wandering through the ‘lobby’ with money falling off them like autumn leaves but no need to vote against such dubiously influencing con-artistry you silly ol things. You just leave it to we who know better now back to work dahlings because after all, work will set you free. Ok. You might be so free that you’re homeless and live in a bus stop but hey! Freedumbs an’ that !
Look on the bright side Bomber, it shows that Maori have had nothing to do with destroying local government past, present and future. People can blame the state of their community or their rates bill on the non-Maori VICTORS!
I am friends with one young couple who for the last few weeks have been bitching about not receiving any voting papers and hence an inability to have a say.
We found said voting papers sitting about 60mm down amongst a pile of damp, snail eaten local newspapers, junk mail flyers and other stuff in their mailbox yesterday afternoon.
What state is it when you need to check other people’s mailboxs to motivate them to look at a voting paper?
I have friends who tell me that they throw the letter straight into the rubbish bin. I guess they think that 1 person is not going to make a difference, but when thousands have that attitude, we end up getting stuck with the choices of the fanatical types who always vote.
Great post, thank you
I did not vote for any candidate who said they would cut red tape.
Good move.
I added to that not voting for anybody who:
– wanted to cap rates
– complained about ‘wasteful spending’
– wanted to end the ‘war’ on cars
– claimed to have something called ‘business acumen’
– wanted to focus on the ‘basics’
– wanted to ‘fix [insert city/town name here]’
– claimed to have ‘commonsense’
Voting in local body elections is a precarious game of right-wing buzzword bingo that is far from foolproof.
Sleepy hobbits is the right term :/
I didn’t put myself out – didn’t vote. What’s the use. The people standing aren’t required to look down a set checklist that would indicate their attitudes, experience, capability. Maori Wards are right but still the warped ones have to try and clear them – it’s the fashion to be minimalist now, spacey and bare with lots of lounging room for the uppers and not much street stretch for the downers. The middle class live in a dream world most of them. It’s a mistake to have a month to vote in, gives too much time to ponder and despair.
I have been involved in politics and social welfare for most of my adult life in some way. Helped get this and that and then see it turned so that its initial purpose is misdirected. Voting for something that is meaningless doesn’t have any greater effect good or bad than not voting. The old saying ‘don’t vote, it just encourages them’ gets a wry laugh. Not voting just affirms to the people in charge that the peeps have given up, but neither approach gets us a change to wise, practical and prudent people committed to their job of managing effectively.
(And here I give an example of an UK revolt by a civil servant who was of great value to the British taxpayer, but his findings and successes led to exploitation by the neolibs and ghastly Thatcherites who didn’t have his values and commitment to serve the people and the nation .)
Hansard https://api.parliament.uk › historic-hansard › written-answers › 1978 › may › 19 › mr-leslie-chapman
Mr. Leslie Chapman (Hansard, 19 May 1978) – api.parliament.uk
Mr. Chapman left the Civil Service on 31st December 1973. His book is written on the basis of his personal appreciation of events which took place some years ago.
******
Rooke Books https://www.rookebooks.com › 1978-your-disobedient-servant
1978 Your Disobedient Servant
This piece and its sequel, Waste Away (1981), continue to have a powerful influence on advocates of privatisation, outsourcing and public sector reform. Written by Leslie Charles Chapman, a British civil servant and …
*****
Our managers and pollies can just go back to their computers and use us all as draught pieces on a board they irregularly redesign. And the noose gets tighter and conditions grow more unpleasant. The people who are sorted look at you with wondering eyes when you express distaste and despair. They have a list of excuses for the mess, and just choose a suitable one for the moment.
I’m pro Maori Ward but I’m not dissapointed by this result. We need to consider that in the years preceeding 2022 only 3 councils had gotten Maori Wards over the line. At this election we went back to the same system that gave us a mere 3 and now we have 20.
Just like the Treaty Principles bill the racist right has put in their best attempt to take us backwards and instead all they’ve done is to provide clear evidence that there’s been a significant shift in attitudes in this country.
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