Template talk:Local government in New Zealand

Template state
How do you get this template to display collapsed by default? MadMaxDog 10:46, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands Territory was grouped with external territories in the Realm of New Zealand. This is extremely misleading. The name Territory as it applies to the Chatham Islands is simply a sui generis category of local authority. The term when applied to an internal division in countries like Australia or the United States implies a much greater level of legal separation than the Chathams have. While the Australian Capital Territory or the District of Columbia constitute distinct legal jurisdictions with their own law-making powers, the Chatham Islands do not. The Chatham Islands Council is not empowered to pass laws, merely bylaws like any other unit of local government.

Contrast this with Niue and the Cook Islands which both have complete law making powers, and for which the New Zealand Government is not empowered to act unilaterally. Contrast it also with the rules that Tokelau's General Fono can pass, and the fact that law passed in New Zealand does not automatically extend to Tokelau. The Ross Dependency constitutes a separate legal system, although laws passed in New Zealand automatically extend to it..

Ben Arnold (talk) 10:46, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Realm of New Zealand
I separated out the external parts of the realm of New Zealand from the Chatham Islands, but I don't believe these external entities belong in this list. They are not Territorial Authorities and they are not of New Zealand in the sense of being part of the country.

I think we should remove them but that's a slightly bolder move than simply separating out the Chathams, so I've left it for now.

Ben Arnold (talk) 10:46, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Scope and links
Given that this template is about territorial authorities, the links should point to the respective district and city councils. Any thoughts before I start adjusting the links?  Schwede 66  08:53, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I think that the dependent territories and the associated states should not be in the template. SealMan11 (talk) 18:35, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I've had a look and Niue was added by an anon, but Tokelau and Ross Dependency were then added by Ingolfson. Let's see whether he'll respond with thoughts. I tend to agree that territories and associated states are the odd ones out.  Schwede 66  05:40, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Navbox layout
An anon has restructured the navbox to include a regional breakdown; see this version. has reverted it to the simpler layout. I like the inclusion of the regional councils, and in particular that it shows those territorial authorities that cross regional boundaries. What do other editors think?  Schwede 66  00:02, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

Regional councils?
I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile renaming this to something along the lines of "Local governments of New Zealand" and including regional councils in this, as they seem fairly neglected at the moment. Does anyone have any thoughts? Turnagra (talk) 02:46, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Well, there's also this template. I guess what you are suggesting is to merge these templates.  Schwede 66  05:15, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Sort of - I feel like that template is distinct, because it's referring to the region instead of the regional council. For instance, ECan wouldn't be on that template but it would be on the proposed addition to this template. Turnagra (talk) 05:22, 14 April 2022 (UTC)
 * I have had a go at expanding the scope of this template to cover the entire local government sector, including all councils (with unitary councils listed twice). As you say, this template covers organisations, making it distinct from Template:Regions of New Zealand and Template:Cities and districts of New Zealand that cover places. Paewiki (talk) Paewiki (talk) 08:24, 16 May 2023 (UTC)