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Objection

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Panmure Business Association

See attached document

• Submission-to-the-proposed-Electoral-Boundaries-for-2020.pdf (pdf 35 KB)

Objection

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New Zealand Labour Party

The knock-on effects of electoral population shifts caused by the introduction of new electorates are always a difficulty for Auckland. The geographical constraints are significant, especially in this Otahuhu/Mount Wellington area.
Manukau East must grow towards the north, however we are concerned with the proposal to make it such a long, narrow electorate with such a significant topographic barrier as the Panmure Basin. The proposed electorate is over 14 kilometres long and barely 220 metres wide at its narrowest point. We consider that abetter solution is not to split Mount Wellington and extend Manukau East in that direction instead.

• Labour-Party-Submission-to-Representation-Commission-Dec-2019-N20-003.pdf (pdf 613 KB)

Objection

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Afoa Tevita Malolo

My objection is to Maungakiekie being part of a Manukau East proposed boundary. There is no community of interest in the communities of Panmure and Glen Innes being part of a predominantly South Auckland boundary. The regeneration project in Tamaki does not benefit from this proposed boundary and the risk is that Panmure is further left behind its more favoured neighbouring suburbs. The history of Panmure suggests otherwise as well as do the unique communities of interest such as the growing Asian population as well as the new communities of Panmure who will form part of the regeneration of the area.

• Map Snapshot 1
• Map Snapshot 2

Objection

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Ms Jennifer Andrew

Objection & reasons
1. I prefer to remain in the Maungakiekie electorate. I reside in Point England, also known as Glen Innes. That suburb is closer to Auckland Central than Manukau.
2.This electorate has served me well in Point England.
3. A change to my electorate would precipitate a change to my zoning for health care. I am currently zoned for health care under Auckland District Health Board and have received and expect to receive treatment at Green Lane Clinical Centre and Auckland City Hospital.
4. There is a natural boundary between Maungakie and Manukau. The natural boundary is the Tamaki River. I am on the northern side of the Tamaki River with a community of interest with suburbs in the present Maungakiekie electorate.
5. I do not have community of interest with residents of Manukau East electoral area. This is an area I am disconnected from. South Auckland issues debated by South Auckland politicians are not pertinent to my current electorate. Issues affecting Glen Innes, Panmure and Point England will not gain traction or even be understood by entrenched South Auckland voters and politicians. We are not South Aucklanders. We have not been included in East Auckland for some years. We have been included in Central Auckland in recent years because of our physical proximity to Central Auckland.
6. The proposed boundary change will alienate us from our historical and administrative connections with Auckland Council and its predecessors, including the former Auckland City Council. Such alienation will have financial consequences when dealing with Council.
7. The proposed boundary change will alienate us from our own infrastructure and businesses throughout the Maungakiekie electorate.
8. The proposed boundary change will cause social confusion and lack of community cohesion.
9. Population is expected to increase in Panmure, Glen Innes and Point England due to building of homes by Tamaki Regeneration Company. We should not be used to prop up other electorates when our true connections are with the current Maungakiekie electorate suburbs.

• Map Snapshot 1
• Map Snapshot 2

Objection

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Mr Keith Sharp

The proposal to carve off large portions of Panmure, Glen Innes, Point England and Mount Wellington from the Maungakiekie electorate and add these communities to the Manukau East electorate is completely illogical and should never have been contemplated by the Electoral Commission.
Among my reasons for this objection are:
Despite the Commission's list of "considerations" in the Overview section of the Boundary Review document, Panmure has no history or community of interest with the Manukau East electorate. The Fencible township of Panmure has a history going back to 1848 and has never been politically or socially linked to the towns or communities of Papatoetoe or Otara in any way. Indeed, Panmure's political administrative history is dominated by links with its neighbouring towns and communities on the Auckland isthmus - not South Auckland/Manukau.
The boundary change appears entirely arbitrary and follows no logical historic or administrative pattern. Historically, Panmure has always sat within the former Auckland City Council and Mount Wellington Borough Council adminstrative areas. From 1848, Panmure became central to the political administration of this area through such bodies as the Panmure/Mount Wellington Highway Districts, the Borough of Mount Wellington and even the short-lived Tamaki City Council. This proposed change ignores all of that history.
This proposed change will also be bad for democratic participation in our areas - which is already at a low ebb. Voters in Panmure, Point England and Glen Innes will feel completely disconnected and alienated from the larger Manukau East electoral area to the South and will probably see all future election campaigns centred entirely on South Auckland issues debated and dominated by South Auckland-based politicians. This is likely to further undermine and discourage participation in democracy in our areas. As it is surely a function of the Electoral Commission to work to increase participation in the democratic process, this proposal will in fact do exactly the opposite, and seriously undermine the Commission's credibility in this regard.
The list of considerations in the Overview document also states that the Electoral Commission has taken into account "topographical features" in the making of its decisions. This is clearly not the case, as the proposed boundary change would actually separate Panmure not only from its own railway station but also a significant part of its community in the Mountain Road area, and even the most obvious geographical feature of Maungarei/Mount Wellington itself, along with Panmure businesses to the west of the railway line and Jellicoe Road. Anyone who knows anything about Panmure and Mount Wellington would know that Maungarei/Mount Wellington is inextricably tied to not only the existing town of Panmure but also the extensive early Maori history of the Mokoia Pa area that includes the Panmure Lagoon and the Tamaki River.
All surrounding electorates - Tamaki, Epsom, Maungakiekie, Mangere, Manurewa, Botany and Pakuranga - are allowed to maintain their identity and sense of cohesion under the changes, but Panmure, along with Glen Innes, Point England, and parts of Mount Wellington and Otahuhu, will be forced to lose theirs to an electorate and electorate name that bears absolutely no relation to them or their history.
The Tamaki Regeneration process foresees a significant population increase in Panmure, Glen Innes and Point England coming decades. This is likely to force a reversal of this proposal by the Electoral Commission in years to come.
Importantly, this proposed electoral boundary change is so unexpected and illogical in its creation that it will raise very strong suspicions in the communities it affects that it is nothing more than a cynical gerrymandering of boundaries to suit the political purposes of the two main political parties, National and Labour - both of which will clearly gain greater security of tenure in the new Parliamentary seat boundaries that it creates. It could not be more obvious that both parties stand to benefit greatly from this change at the expense of non-politically-aligned voters.
In conclusion, this whole proposed change to the Maungakiekie electorate appears to be nothing more than an ill-considered statistical convenience in which population numbers in electorates to the west of Auckland are being resolved by shifting the more apparently more politically-favoured electorates of Mount Roskill and Maungakiekie to the west slightly, leaving an inconvenient nuisance of the population over in the east - and then just thoughtlessly sticking that on to the nearest available electorate - Manukau East.