This bill amends the Electoral Act 1993 to decouple the timing of electoral boundary reviews from the census. The existing requirement for a review after each periodical census (currently every five years) would be replaced by a requirement to conduct a review during every second parliamentary term, from 2030; the Representation Commission would have to complete each review no later than 12 months before that term expires, and the Surveyor-General would have to call the Commission's first meeting no later than 24 months before. It also realigns the "counting day" definition used to calculate the Māori electoral population with a reference date set in the related Data and Statistics (Census) Amendment Bill. The bill is currently before Parliament.
This bill amends the Electoral Act 1993 to decouple the timing of electoral boundary reviews from the census, tying them instead to every second general electoral cycle from 2030. Its stated purpose is to align boundary-review timing with the Government's move to modernise the census, while keeping a logical link between reviews and the electoral cycles they serve. It is related to the Data and Statistics (Census) Amendment Bill, which reschedules and changes how the census is run.
Supporters argue that fixing boundary reviews to the electoral cycle gives predictability and fits a modernised, administrative-data-based census. Others may examine whether less frequent, cycle-based reviews keep electorate populations sufficiently balanced as communities grow and shift, and how the change interacts with the separate census reforms it depends on.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.