Representation review 2028: Pānui 3

Kia ora koutou

Welcome to our latest pānui. This update covers:

• Representation reviews - things to consider now
• Population estimates
• Stats NZ: Representation review population guidelines
• Webinar on YouTube
• Representation review resources

Representation reviews - things to consider now

Councils required to undertake representation reviews will be starting to think about their approach. For some, this will include considering what the Simplifying Local Government/Head Start processes means for their review.

For now, the statutory requirement to undertake a review remains in place unless and until the law is changed. LGNZ and Taituarā’s Electoral Reference Group have both provided guidance for councils affected by Head Start.

Whatever the circumstances of individual councils, there are some things worth considering early. These include:

• the issues the review will need to address
• the people and expertise needed to support the review
• a realistic timetable
• the nature and extent of community engagement that will be appropriate
• the statistical information needed, including the 2026 population estimates from Stats NZ discussed below.

Population estimates

Stats NZ has advised that population estimates as at 30 June 2026 will be released in two tranches:

• on 29 October estimates will be released for territorial authority districts and local board areas
• on about 25 November estimates will be released for regions, local government electoral areas (wards, constituencies, communities and subdivisions) and other geographic areas such as SA3s and SA2s.

The Commission will receive breakdowns by the Māori Electoral Population (MEP) and the General Electoral Population (GEP) shortly after the 25 November release.

Total population estimates for local government electoral areas will be available from around on Aotearoa Data Explorer from the day of release. Once the release has been confirmed by Stats NZ, we will provide further advice about that.

Populations for all existing electoral areas along with membership to population ratios will be available on our website shortly after we have received the MEP and GEP data. We will provide an update when this has happened.

Stats NZ - Representation review population guidelines

These guidelines explain how to make a request to Stats NZ for population estimates for proposed electoral areas. The guidelines are currently being updated by Stats NZ and will be replaced by a new version shortly. When using the current guidelines, please note that the section "About population estimates" which references 2018-base population estimates is outdated now that estimates based on the 2023 Census and 2023 Post-enumeration Survey are available.

Webinar: How New Zealand's parliamentary electorate boundaries are drawn

Our webinar featuring Jeff Needham, Deputy Surveyor-General, and Ian Harrison, Senior Geospatial Specialist at Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), discussing how the Representation Commission determines New Zealand's parliamentary electorate boundaries is now available on the Local Government Commission’s YouTube channel How New Zealand's parliamentary electorate boundaries are drawn

Jeff and Ian explained how GIS and redistricting tools were used during the most recent review of parliamentary electorates. It provided a useful comparison with the processes used in local government representation reviews.

Representation review resources

The Commission’s representation review resources and recent and previous representation review determinations are available here.

Plans of districts, regions and existing electoral areas can be found here.

Contacting us 

If you have any questions on your council’s review or related matters, or if you or a colleague wants to be added to our distribution list, please email us. 

Ngā mihi 

The Local Government Commission Team 

Note: The information contained in this update is intended to support well-informed council decisions and good practice throughout the representation review process.  Specific representation arrangements are decisions for each council.  The information is provided by Commission officials and does not reflect a particular view or preference of the Commission for any specific representation arrangement.  Where representation is determined by the Commission, each determination is considered on its own merits taking into account the information available to the Commission.