Media Statement

24 September 2007

Manurewa electorate boundaries reflect stronger communities of interest

The Manurewa Action Team, a group that led the challenge against a proposal to carve up the Manurewa electorate, is delighted that the Representation Commission has overwhelmingly endorsed recommendations to reunite long-standing communities that comprise that electorate.

Daniel Newman, the leader of the Manurewa Action Team and a member of the Manurewa Community Board, said the Representation Commission’s final decision was generally appropriate.

“The Commission has endorsed the recommendations of more than 400 local residents and families that argued in favour of Manurewa maintaining its distinctive communities of interest. The Manurewa Action Team’s campaign has been a success to the extent that thousands of voters in Weymouth, Manurewa South and Greenmeadows, who were previously expected to be shifted into the Papakura electorate, will once again be voting in Manurewa in 2008.

“The Manurewa Action Team distributed thousands of pro forma submissions to residents south of Weymouth and Alfriston Roads. We argued that existing communities of interest and historic precedent were two powerful reasons in favour of maintaining Manurewa’s electorate boundaries. We are pleased that those submissions have been allowed,” Daniel Newman said.

Population growth throughout the Counties Manukau region has forced the Representation Commission to make some radical changes to the composition of electorates across that region. The Commission has approved the creation of a new electorate, Botany, which is based in Howick and Flat Bush.

“Congratulations to each and every submitter who argued for electorate boundaries that reflect existing communities of interest. Obviously boundary changes create upheaval. We are disappointed that we did not get everything that we argued for. But the final boundary that will apply to Manurewa is broadly correct and in keeping with the criterion set down in the Electoral Act 1993,” Daniel Newman said.

ENDS

Background

The Representation Commission’s final report is available at: http://www.elections.org.nz/mapping/final_report/report_without_schedule_d.pdf

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