Five Million Voices

Should government entities be required to align their regional boundaries with local authority boundaries within 5 years?

This Member's bill would require each government entity to align its administrative boundaries with local authority boundaries within a time-frame of 5 years. It is still before Parliament.

Full bill summary & link to official bill page

A member's bill that would require central-government agencies to line up their administrative boundaries — the regional map each department uses to organise its services — with local council boundaries, within five years. At present different agencies can divide the country into different regions, so one community may sit inside several mismatched zones. The bill's stated goal is a single, more consistent regional map across government.

The idea is to make it easier to base multiple government services together in shared regional hubs, particularly in smaller communities, and to give people clearer, more consistent boundaries. As a member's bill, it is a proposal from an individual MP rather than government policy. Supporters say aligning boundaries would cut duplication and confusion, and the five-year timeframe would give agencies time to adjust their systems.

See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.

Oppose (No) Support (Yes)

Better Regional Boundaries Bill · First Reading, 20 May 2026
Parliament voted 97–25 — it passed. (Provisional — from Hansard’s uncorrected transcript.)