The Department of Internal Affairs: Local Government Services - Local Government Services


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Local Government Services

Local Elections

Community Outcomes Processes

Local Government Services

The Local Government Services group undertakes the Department's operational responsibilities with regard to local government. Local Government Services gives advice and information to the public about local government and provides advisory and administrative support to the Local Government Commission to assist it in carrying out its statutory functions.

Local Government Services provides boating facilities and regulates boating activity at Lake Taupo. It is also responsible for Harbourmaster functions for Lake Taupo and administers and enforces the Lake Taupo Regulations 1976. The unit exercises territorial authority functions on behalf of the Minister of Local Government on some offshore islands where the Minister has the powers of a territorial authority.

The Rates Rebate Scheme, which provides rebates to low-income ratepayers, is also administered in the unit.

Further Information

Link here to Local Government Policy
Link here to information about the Local Government Act 2002
Link here to information about the Local Electoral Act 2001
Link here to information about the Community Outcomes Processes

The Department's Involvement in Local Elections The role of the Department of Internal Affairs in the 2004 local authority and Health Board elections.

LG KnowHow is a joint work programme by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), the Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM), and the Department of Internal Affairs, to provide councils with the guidance, templates, "best practice" advice and ongoing training that will enable them to implement the new Local Government and Rating Acts successfully.

Policy development guidelines for regulatory functions involving local government (December 2006) These guidelines have been prepared to prompt and assist central government agencies to identify and consider key issues that may arise where local authorities are, or are proposed to be, involved in the implementation of regulatory functions.

Strategy for Evaluating Local Government Legislation (December 2005) Link here to a copy of the strategy developed by the Department of Internal Affairs for evaluating the roles, responsibilities, powers and accountabilities of local government as defined by the Local Government Act 2002, the Local Electoral Act 2001, and the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002.

www.localcouncils.govt.nz
(Link here to the Local Councils website, managed by the Department of Internal Affairs)
Dog Control The Dog Control Amendment Act 2003 is intended to make New Zealand a safer place for children. An electronic (pdf) version of the Dog Control Amendment Act is now available from this website.
Maori and the Local Government Act A summary of feedback from the series of workshops conducted in 2003 on Treaty of Waitangi issues and the Maori provisions in the Local Government Act 2002.

Local Government Information Project
The purpose of the Local Government Information Project is to collect, analyse and disseminate consistent, credible information about each Council, easily accessible from a single website for the public, councillors and staff . The Local Councils website went live in August 2005.

Local Government Directory

A Directory of Local Government in New Zealand is available below in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. To access these documents you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.

A Directory of Local Government in New Zealand:

(94k)

Introduction

A Directory of Local Government in New Zealand:

(70k)

Regional Councils and Unitary Authorities

A Directory of Local Government in New Zealand:

(114k)

Territorial Authorities

A Directory of Local Government in New Zealand:

(13k)

New Zealand Departments / Offices of Local Government

For maps of local authority boundaries please refer to the Local Councils website.

Choosing Electoral Systems in Local Government in New Zealand

Read, download or print out this document by clicking on the link below:

Choosing Electoral Systems in Local Government in New Zealand (360k) This document is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. To access this document you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. You can download a free version from the Adobe site.

This resource document, Choosing Electoral Systems in Local Government in New Zealand, was designed to help local government elected members and officials as they consider whether or not to change from a First Past the Post (FPP) electoral system to a Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system for the 2004 local elections. Local authorities had the option to change electoral systems under the Local Electoral Act 2001. This document contains facts that anybody considering local government electoral systems in New Zealand should know about STV and how it works. The document was prepared by the STV Taskforce, convened by the Department of Internal Affairs, and features contributions from a number of expert authors and reviewers.


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Last updated: 28/08/2009