Transparency, accountability and decision making based on democratic principles

The year 2025 ended with a significant success for our local democracy in the Tasman district. The Council agreed to open its workshops to the public by default. This change is an important step forward towards more transparency.

We gave the Tasman District Council another chance to address the issues that we raised regarding the code of conduct investigation that cost ratepayers almost $40,000.

We sent the following email to all candidates and newly elected members in the 2025 local election for the Tasman District Council.

Tasman Democracy Inc. appealed against this determination to the High Court. A hearing was held in August and the judgment was released in September 2025. We raised five grounds of appeal and the High Court agreed with one of them. The Court “has found an error of law has occurred”. The High Court directed the Local Government Commission to reconsider their determination, by addressing the number of councillors per ward.