How Council works

The Porirua City Council organisation is led by the Chief Executive, who works closely with the Mayor. The Chief Executive appoints an Executive Leadership Team who direct organisational staff.

The organisation as a whole, is responsible for our operation and service delivery, advising Council and carrying out their decisions.

Council-controlled organisations look after specific Council assets, services or infrastructure. The CCOs operate separately from the organisation, but are accountable to Council which sets their direction and monitors their performance.

• Makes laws for all of New Zealand.
• Overseeing the progress of big things like housing, welfare, education, health, energy, national road and rail systems, defence, foreign policy and public finances.
• Keeps an eyes on employment, imports and exports and workplace safety.
• Deals with taxes for the whole of the country.

General elections decide who represents all New Zealanders in Parliament.

General elections are held every three years. The Prime Minister is responsible for announcing the date of the general election.

All eligible New Zealanders can vote. If you are eligible to vote it does not mean you are automatically enrolled, so you'll still need to enrol.

You are eligible to enrol and vote if you:

• Are 18 years or older (you can enrol from your 17th birthday).
• Are a New Zealand citizen.
• Are a permanent resident and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more. (If your are on a work or study visa that requires you to leave New Zealand by a certain date you are not eligible to enrol and vote.)
• Are an Australian, Niuean, Tokelauan or Cook Island citizen and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more.
• Are on remand, home detention, serving a community-based sentence, or serving a sentence of less than three years imprisonment.

Find out more on the Electoral Commission website.

Voting in the general election opens around two weeks before election day. You can cast an early vote or wait to vote at the polling stations on election day.

Everyone gets two votes in the general election:

• An electorate vote: Used to vote for candidates you want to represent the area you live in in Parliament.
• A party vote: Used to vote for the political party you want to represent you in Parliament. The leader of the party that gets the largest proportion of votes will become Prime Minister.

You find which electorate you are in on the Vote.nz website.

• Provides local services like water, rubbish collection, parks, animal management, local roads and libraries.
• Make decisions about resource and building consents.
• Make Bylaws (special laws for certain areas) and policies within its boundaries.
• Collects rates from Porirua residents to keep the city going.

Council runs their own local elections and they are administered through a postal vote. This means that there are no polling stations like there are at general elections.

You vote to elect the members who make up your local Council and to represent you and your community.

Like general elections, local elections happen every three years. Local elections must be held on the second Saturday in October every three years.

All eligible New Zealanders can vote. If you are eligible to vote it does not mean you are automatically enrolled, so you'll still need to enrol.

You are eligible to enrol and vote if you:

• Are 18 years or older (you can enrol from your 17th birthday).
• Are a New Zealand citizen.
• Are a permanent resident and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more. (If your are on a work or study visa that requires you to leave New Zealand by a certain date you are not eligible to enrol and vote.)
• Are an Australian, Niuean, Tokelauan or Cook Island citizen and have lived in New Zealand continuously for 12 months or more.
• Are on remand, home detention, serving a community-based sentence, or serving a sentence of less than three years imprisonment.
• If you are on the electoral roll and live in the Porirua region.
• If you live outside the Porirua area but own property in Porirua.

Voting in the local election opens around two weeks before election day.

On the day you will be deciding on:

• The Mayor.
• The Councillors.

Porirua City uses the "Single Transferable Vote" (STV) which involves the ranking of all candidates from most preferred (1) to least preferred. You can find out more information on STV here.