Our elected representatives

Our council chamber

Local authority boundaries North Island

Local authority boundaries South Island
Maps showing the boundaries of regional and territorial authorities.

Choosing the council
How to enrol, how to vote, and how to stand for a range of local elected positions

Māori constituencies
Environment Bay of Plenty is the only local authority in New Zealand to institute Māori constituencies. Read about their reasons and their process.

Kids voting
Auckland City Council provides schools in its area with a resource to help them understand how elections work.

STV
What Single transferrable voting is, and how it works.

What a mayor does
The ways the role is interpreted is as individual as the people – read on to see how some mayors work.

What councillors do

What standing committees do

What community board members do

What school trustees do

What district health
board members do

What licensing trust members do

Democracy at school - what school boards do

School boards of trustees are elected every three years. The New Zealand School Trustees Association is responsible for seeing the board elections run smoothly and is there to offer advice to both schools and those seeking election.

The association has put out a brochure outlining the role the board plays and what directors are expected to do.

Democratic elections allow people to take part in the education of their children while making a contribution to their schools.

Elections project manager Anne Pattillo, who organised the 1998 elections around the country, says the main criterion for standing is a desire to make a difference to the education of New Zealand children. “Trustees come from all walks of life and this is a true democracy where parents get to say who will represent them.”

As well as elected members, boards include the principal of the school, one student representative and one staff representative.

Finance, property, staffing and employment matters are among the biggest responsibilities for the board, while the principal manages the school within the policy limits the board has set down.
You can stand for election if you are over 18, registered to vote, a New Zealand citizen, and not a teacher at the school.

You don’t have to have a child at the school to become a trustee, but to vote for the board you do have to be a mother, father or immediate caregiver of a student at the school.
There are no sets of ‘right’ skills needed to become a trustee, just life experience, common sense, interest, enthusiasm and some spare time.

Most board meetings are held monthly and can last between one and five hours, depending on what is on the agenda.

NZSTA runs training courses for trustees on most aspects of the job, including roles and responsibilities, privacy, human rights, employment issues, managing workloads, effective meetings, planning, sexual harassment and the Treaty of Waitangi.