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The Ratepayers’ Alliance has slammed the government for exempting the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) from a law change to ban unelected members from voting on council decisions.
“Simon Watts [Minister for Auckland] said, quite rightly, that it is wrong for unelected members to have voting rights. So why should Auckland’s local democracy be the exception?,” the organisation’s Josh Van Veen says.
As reported previously, a law change may have swung a critical vote regarding a 7.5 per cent rates hike by Auckland Council. However, IMSB members are exempt anyway.
“The IMSB is a textbook example of unelected appointees voting alongside elected members on key council decisions, as we saw last week with the Budget Committee vote on Wayne Brown’s record high rates increase,” Van Veen adds.
“There is no reasonable justification for exempting Auckland from the law change. This just goes to show how little regard the government has for local democracy in our largest city.”
