Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Davina Smolders: Far North District Councillor on the Government banning non-elected people from voting

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Davina Smolders: Far North District Councillor on the Government banning non-elected people from voting · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Central government stepping in and telling councils that there will
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: be no voting rights for unelected committee members. The government
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is planning to amend the Local Government Act two thousand
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and two to ensure only elected councilors can vote, which
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: will stop the appointment of EWE representatives as full voting members.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Devani Smolders is a Far North district councilor who Leeds
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: who led the charge on the issue in her region. Devina,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for your time this morning. Are
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: you pleased about this?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, good morning, Franciski. Yes, I'm absolutely delighted that the
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: government has acted to restore democratic accountability. Are they're removing
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: the voting rights from unelected committee members?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Divina? Why did the government the minister have to step
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in and councils couldn't sort this out for themselves.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it was around the numbers, especially when
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I was sitting at the table with ten of them
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: around the table. So if someone has the power to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: cast a vote that affects your rates, your roads, your water,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: they should first have to earn the support of voters
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: at the ballot box. And that's a fundamental principle of democracy.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: And I believe the Government's made the right decision. I'd
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: like to get a quick acknowledgment to Simon Rocks from
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: the National Party and Cameron Luxeon from the ex Party.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Cameron is the action hero on this piece at the
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: government end, and sometimes the government can move slowly and
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: in this case that moves remarkably quickly.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Divina, what is the situation in the finals? Because it
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: is common around the country, There's different situations in different councils. Right,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: it is common around the country for there to be
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: non elected members part of a committee, but final decisions
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: are made by a vote of the elected members. Is
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: that not the case in the finals?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: It is now decisions were being made at the committee level. However,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: now they've been forced to come to full council. But
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I believe that this is only the first step and
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the next major issue that Parliament needs to look at
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: is something called a gender setting where most people assume
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: that councilors make the decisions, but councilors can only make
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: decisions based on the information placed in front of them
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: by staff. So if elected members are only presented with
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: one option, or one perspective, or a faulted version of events,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: then the decision has effectively been shaped before it reaches
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: the council, and I can assure you that at the
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Far North District Council that information is highly fulted. So
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: I understand it's also happening with other councilors across New Zealand.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Isn't it the council's jobs though, to get the information
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: that they need and be fully aware of situations.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: That's the exact point, Francisca, that we're not fully aware
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of them because the staff or the department that the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: information channels through is not accountable, and we don't have
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: full visibility of implications of the decisions. We don't have
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: full visibility of alternative options. So removing unelected voting rights
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: was an important democratic reform, but examining the agenda setting
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: may well actually be the very next one.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: How will has changed the Far North District Council. Will
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: it be a simple transformation once the bill is passed?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Indeed, yes, so we have six months once the bill
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: is fast pass to change things. I understand that on
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: one of the Hastings Water councils they have nine members
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: and only two are elected members, so it's going to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: be a quick reshuffle for all councils around New Zealand
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: to get their ducks lined up and ready. But the
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: government's given us six months to do that. So the
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: first domino has now fallen and the next challenge will
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: be this agenda setting. We were ensuring that elected members
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: receive the balanced information and genuine options. So it's a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: cause I intend to pursue with some determination and continue
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: leaving the conversation around that space.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Divina. Thank you very much for your time this morning,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: listen live to news Talks there'd be from five am,
• 4:00
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