95bFM Should local governments change to four-year terms?
March 23, 2025
Interview by Evie Richardson, adapted by Alex Fox
Chair of Local Government New Zealand’s (LGNZ) Electoral Reform Working Group, Nick Smith, says the proposed legislation to change central government terms to four years should include local government to better align the two.
Currently, the conversation around government term length is back in the public psyche, as the government says it will introduce legislation to change the current three-year term to a four-year term, subject to a referendum.
The ACT Party proposal has seen cross-party support, with both the National Party and NZ First Party supporting the bill to the Select Committee. Labour Party Leader, Chris Hipkins, has also supported four-year terms.
However, local government is excluded from this legislation and will continue operating under a three-year term.
Chair of Local Government New Zealand’s (LGNZ) Electoral Reform Working Group and Mayor of Nelson, Nick Smith, told 95bFM’s The Wire that the membership body wants the four-year term to be implemented to better align central and local governments, especially regarding the key challenges facing councils across the motu.
“Whether it's infrastructure, improving water quality, climate change, housing planning, biodiversity, economic development; we think on all of those big issues it would be good for councils to take a longer-term perspective.”
Smith, who also has 31 years of experience in Parliament, says another problem facing local councils is efficiency.
He says a four-year term, for both local and central governments, would result in “more time doing, less time politicking”.
“I see the whole business of government where there are over 80,000 public servants sort of sit around twiddling their thumbs for two or three months while we go through the election cycle.”
“The advantage of the four years is that you've got that less frequently.”
If local government terms were to be changed, Smith’s ideal model would be to have alternate elections between central and local governments every two years.
He is concerned that publicity for local government elections would be swallowed up otherwise.
“The level of frequency that keeps the public engaged, allows them to exercise their absolutely critical democratic right to vote, while not being so frequent that it almost becomes sort of lost in the day-to-day hurry and blur of life.”
Smith says he would rather the bill to change the central government term length include local government.
“Simply put it to the public, do you want to move to four-year terms for both parliament and for councils?”
