Raglan continues to be in the King Country-Taranaki electorate under the current proposal for the 2014 general election. Raglanders now have another opportunity to put their views forward on the electorate boundary and its name. The Representation Commission has just published its summary of objections and called for counter-objections. Counter-objections close on Wednesday the 29th January 2014.
The commission reports that 25 people made submissions about the Taranaki-King Country electorate. The majority of the objections are about the inclusion of Temple View, which is currently in the Hamilton West electorate. Other objections are to the geographical size and spread of the electorate and its name. Three Raglan locals sent objections in. All three objections were to the size of the electorate with two proposing that the electorate should be named Raglan-Taranaki-King Country. Another submitter pointed out that as very little of Taranaki is left in the electorate area, that Taranaki should be dropped from the name.
While Waikato District Council and Raglan Community Board failed to send in a submission, the Hamilton City Council did object to the inclusion of the Temple View in the King Country – Taranaki electorate. Hamilton International Airport NZ, partly owned by Waikato District Council, objected to the airport area being included in the King Country-Taranaki electorate. If the airport stays in the electorate area and the electorate is renamed Raglan – King Country then perhaps the airport should be renamed Raglan – King Country!
There were no objections received about Whaingaroa’s Maori electorate Hauraki – Waikato.
The full report can be read here: http://www.elections.org.nz/sites/default/files/bulk-upload/documents/objections_to_proposed_electoral_districts_2014.pdf
You can lodge your counter objection here: https://www.elections.org.nz/eform/submit/ec_counter_objection_form
Out of 71 constituencies TKC is 3rd on the list in numbers of objections, with only Mt Roskill and Helensville higher. They must have got something wrong. Among the things they’ve got wrong is that their summary says I objected to the name. I didn’t. They haven’t mentioned that I objected to the population, which will be 2,062 below their average target this year and predicted to fall a further 7% by 2017. Two of us have suggested a constituency made up of Waikato and Matamata-Piako Districts, which would be 2,500 below the target, but likely to increase. It’d be good to get lots of support for this option. The alternative suggestion is Waikato constituency, but it’s already 3.6% over target and predicted to grow by a further 2%.
Although TKC is 3rd on the list of objections, the commission could well still say, “25 objections isn’t many compared to the population, so yes, lots of people do need to lodge objections to ensure this silly arrangement of Raglan in TKC is ended.