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Did the Office of Treaty Settlements advise that, without an explicit exclusion for Treaty settlement arrangements, existing and future Treaty settlements could be compromised or placed at risk by the Government's proposal to amend the Local Government Act 2002 to prevent non-democratically elected members from voting or contributing to quorum; if so, at what point in the policy development process was that advice provided, and did the Minister receive it before or after the policy was designed?

Answered Question 30295 (2026)
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Asked by

Tangi Utikere

Member for Palmerston North · Labour Party

Question

  • Did the Office of Treaty Settlements advise that, without an explicit exclusion for Treaty settlement arrangements, existing and future Treaty settlements could be compromised or placed at risk by the Government's proposal to amend the Local Government Act 2002 to prevent non-democratically elected members from voting or contributing to quorum; if so, at what point in the policy development process was that advice provided, and did the Minister receive it before or after the policy was designed?

Answered by

Hon Simon Watts

Member for North Shore · National Party · Minister of Local Government

Answer

Feedback from the Office of Treaty Settlements on this proposal is outlined in my proactively released Cabinet paper Local Authority Committees: Policy Decisions. I am advised that the Office of Treaty Settlements expressed support for an exclusion from the proposal for committees established as part of Treaty settlement arrangements during departmental consultation on the draft Cabinet paper.