Local Government Act 2002 (New Zealand)

Local Government Act 2002
New Zealand Parliament
This Act is the Local Government Act 2002
Date of Royal Assent	24 December 2002
Date commenced	1 July 2003
Introduced by	Sandra Lee
Amendments
2006
Related legislation
Local Government Act of 1974
Status: Current legislation

The Local Government Act 2002 of New Zealand is an Act of New Zealand's Parliament that defines Local Government in New Zealand. There are 73 local districts or territorial authorities, each with an elected Mayor and elected Councillors. The districts are grouped under 12 Regional Authorities.

Local government in New Zealand derives its powers from statute rather than from any constitutional authority, there being no formal written constitution. Its origins can be found in the Municipal Corporations Act (1876), and it was built on the principle of ultra vires - i.e., that local government (the same as companies) can only do those things it is specifically authorised to do, and can not do anything it is not authorised to do.

This requirement to have specific legislative authorisation resulted in a hodge podge of amendments to the local government legislation. For example, one of the (predecessor) Local Government Act of 1974 1974 Act's highly prescriptive provisions was s663, which gave councils a statutory power to install, light and maintain a town clock. It is said that by the mid 1990s, the 1974 Act rivalled the country's income tax legislation in terms of size and complexity. With over 100 amendments, the 1974 Act had become an unwieldy mish-mash of 1950s and 60s prescriptive planning, overlaid with 1990s accountability and financial provisions, with a complicated numbering system.

There were some bona fide reasons for the ultra vires approach - specifically to limit the potential for local government to compete with private enterprise.

In December 1999 Sandra Lee was appointed Local Government Minister in the newly formed Labour/Alliance Coalition Government. Responding to a groundswell of now coordinated unhappiness and pressure that had been building since the formation of the Local Government New Zealand association in 1996, Lee oversaw a rewrite of the Local Government Act of 1974]] so that it was readable to the general public and addressed matters that had come up in the intervening 28 years. Jeanette Fitzsimons, co-leader of the Green party, was appointed chairperson of the select committee.

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