2024 Tauranga City Council election

2024 Tauranga City Council election
20 July 2024
	Mayoral election
Mayor before election; Under commission;	Elected mayor ; Mahé Drysdale; Independent
	Council election
	9 seats on the Tauranga City Council; 6 seats needed for a majority

The 2024 Tauranga City Council election was a local election held from 29 June to 20 July in Tauranga, New Zealand, following the end of the crown commission. Voters elected the mayor of Tauranga and 9 city councillors, for the unusually quadrennial 2024–2028 term of the Tauranga City Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system was used.

Key dates

Key dates relating to the election were as follows:^[1]^[2]

26 April	Nominations opened
26 April	Preliminary electoral roll opened for inspection
24 May	Nominations closed
24 May	Inspection of preliminary electoral roll closed
29 June	Voting papers sent out
29 June	Start of voting period
20 July	Final polling day
20 July	Progress result released
21 July	Preliminary result released
23 July	Final result released

Background

These were the first elections for the Tauranga City Council since 2019, following the appointment by the Minister of Local Government of a Crown Commission to oversee Tauranga City Council's governance responsibilities on 9 February 2021.^[3]

The Tauranga City Council used the single transferable voting system to elect the Mayor of Tauranga and city councillors^[4] for a term that will last until the 2028 local elections.^[5]^[6]

Tauranga City Council created nine electoral wards for these elections. There were eight general wards (Mauao/Mount Maunganui, Arataki, Pāpāmoa, Welcome Bay, Matua-Otūmoetai, Bethlehem, Tauriko and Te Papa) and one Māori ward (Te Awanui, covering the entire city) which each returned one councillor.^[4]

List of candidates

Nominations for candidates opened on 26 April 2024 and closed on 24 May 2024.^[7] The following 86 candidates^[8] have been confirmed to be running for the positions of mayor and the nine city councillors:^[9]

Mayor

There were 14 candidates for mayor.^[10]

Councillors

Te Awanui Māori ward

Candidate	Affiliation
Suaree Borell		Learning, Leading and Leveraging
Ashley Hillis		None
Mikaere Sydney		Tauranga Moana Kōkiritia

Arataki general ward

Candidate	Affiliation
Sarah-Jane Bourne		None
Rick Curach		Pick Rick community needs over wants
Anthony Goddard		None
Teresa Killian		None
Adrienne Pierce		None
Kim Renshaw		Voice for Arataki
Jeroen Van der Beek		A local for Arataki Ward
Andrea Webster		Independent
Harris Williams		None
Mike Williams		Common sense on Council

Bethlehem general ward

Candidate	Affiliation
Charlene Apaapa		None
Shelley Archibald		None
Felicity Auva'a		Forward with Experience Energy Action
Darren Gilchrist		None
Gerry Hodgson		None
Jos Nagels		Visionary Leadership, Not Repeatership
Bevan Rakoia		None
John Robson^[11]		Principled; Professional; Democratic
Kevin (Herb) Schuler		Constructive and Positive Leadership

Matua-Otūmoetai general ward

Candidate		Notes
Tanya Bamford-King	Independent
Ronald Chamberlain	None
Glen Crowther	Accountability, Transparency, Community
Suzie Edmonds	Independent
Cam Holden	Independent
Jim McKinlay^[12]	None
Ken Patterson	None
Basie Pikimaui	Tauranga Moana Kōkiritia
Tenby Powell	Our City. Our Future. Together	Mayor 2019–2020
Kim Pritchard	Independent
Mike Rayner	For keeping our current facilities
Zach Reeder	None
David Tank	None
David Webb	Tomorrow's thriving Tauranga, together

Mauao/Mount Maunganui general ward

Candidate		Notes
Heidi Hughes^[11]	Community, environment, future	Councillor 2019–2020
Garth Mathieson	None
Teresa Nichols	Independent
Michael O'Neill	Independent
Jacqueline Pointon	None
Jen Scoular	Commercial acumen, community heart
Peter Douglas Stanley	None

Pāpāmoa general ward

Candidate		Notes
Bryan Archer	None
John Bowden	None
Phillip Coleman	None
Ria Hall^[12]	None
Tim Maltby	Our Rates are too High
Steve Morris	Championing Pāpāmoa on Council	Former councillor^[13]
Maaka Nelson	None
Craig Purcell	Pāpāmoa Pāpāmoa Proud
Shelley Robb	Independent

Tauriko general ward

Candidate		Notes
Larry Baldock	Let's Keep Moving Forward	Former deputy mayor^[11]
Murray Guy^[14]	Democracy for Tauranga
Marten Rozeboom^[12]	None
Stephen Wheeler	None

Te Papa general ward

Candidate	Affiliation
Andrew Caie		Independent
Mark Decke		None
Chudleigh Haggett		None
Reihana Marx		None
Terry Molloy		None
Jim Smith		Loyal and Local
Rod Taylor		Tauranga True
Barbara Turley		None
Abraham (Bram) van Berkel		None

Welcome Bay general ward

Candidate	Affiliation
Hautapu Baker		Healthy Environment Thriving Community
Aureliu Braguta		None
Ethan Brinkman		Ethan for Reason
Robert Coe		Independent
Donna Hannah		None
Cameron Templer		Action over Words

Results

The official results of the election were released on 25 July.^[15] Voter turnout was 38.77%,^[16] which compares with a turnout of 40.28% at the 2019 election.^[17] Only one woman, Jen Scoular for the Mauao/Mount Maunganui ward, was elected to the council.^[17] Two former councillors, Steve Morris and Rick Curach, were re-elected.^[17]

Mikaere Sydney was elected as councillor for Tauranga's first Māori ward Te Awanui, which the Tauranga commission had confirmed at a meeting in April 2021 following the passage of the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act 2021. Te Awanui is at risk of dissolution due to the National-led coalition government requiring local councils to hold binding referendums on Māori wards.^[18]

Summary


Winning candidate	Position	Ward
Mahé Drysdale	Mayor	At-large
Jen Scoular	Councillor	Mauao/Mount Maunganui
Glen Crowther	Councillor	Matua-Otūmoetai
Rod Taylor	Councillor	Te Papa
Kevin "Herb" Schuler	Councillor	Bethlehem
Marten Rozeboom	Councillor	Tauriko
Hautapu Baker	Councillor	Welcome Bay
Rick Curach	Councillor	Arataki
Steve Morris	Councillor	Pāpāmoa
Mikaere Sydney	Councillor	Te Awanui