2025 Tasman District Council election

The 2025 Tasman District Council election is an upcoming local election to be held from 9 September to 11 October in the Tasman District of New Zealand as part of that year's nation-wide local elections. Voters will elect the mayor of Tasman, 14 district councillors, and eight community board members for the 2025–2028 term of the Tasman District Council. Postal voting and the first-past-the-post voting system will be used.

2025 Tasman District Council election

← 2022 11 October 2025 2028 →
Turnout	TBD
Mayoral election
Mayor before election Tim King Independent Elected mayor TBD
Council election
All 14 ward seats on the Tasman District Council
Incumbents before election Affiliation Seats Change   Independents 14
Popular vote share of winning councillors by ward

A Māori ward will be introduced for this election; its future will be decided in a referendum on the issue, as part of a nation-wide series of referendums.

Key dates

The following key dates apply for the 2025 local election:^[1]

• 4 July 2025: Nominations for candidates will open
• 1 August 2025: Nominations for candidates will close at 12 noon
• 9 September 2025: Voting documents will be posted and voting will open
• 11 October 2025: Voting will close at 12 noon and progress/preliminary results will be published
• 17 October 2025: Final results will be declared.

Background

Positions up for election

Voters in the district will elect the mayor of Tasman, 14 district councillors in 5 wards, and the members of two community boards (Golden Bay and Motueka).^[2]

The district has five geographical wards, which elect thirteen councillors: four councillors for Richmond, three for Moutere–Waimea, three for Motueka, two for Golden Bay, and one for Lakes–Murchison. The mayor and the one Māori ward councillor are elected at-large.

Representation

The council voted to establish a Māori ward for the 2025 local elections in 2023. The ward will be named Te Tai o Aorere Māori and will elect one councillor.^[1]

The government passed legislation in 2024 on Māori wards that requires councils to hold a binding referendum alongside the 2025 elections if they established Māori wards without holding a referendum;^[3] Council voted for the Māori ward to remain for the 2025 election.^[4]

The council consulted in 2024 whether the ward representation should change.^[5] The elected members decided to make one minor change, with the Totara View area located south of Wakefield shifting from the Lakes–Murchison ward to the Moutere–Waimea ward.^[6][7]

Campaign

List of candidates

Incumbents not seeking re-election

• Stuart Bryant (Lakes–Murchison ward), incumbent deputy mayor and district councillor since a June 1999 by-election, will retire at the 2025 election.^[8][9][10]
• Barry Dowler, incumbent councillor for the Motueka ward^[9][10]
• Chris Hill, incumbent councillor for the Golden Bay ward^[11][10]
• Christeen Mackenzie, incumbent councillor for the Moutere / Waimea ward^[11][10]
• Dan Shallcrass, incumbent councillor for the Moutere / Waimea ward^[11][10]

Mayor

The first candidate for the mayoralty was Timo Neubauer, who declared his candidacy in early May 2025.^[12]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Maxwell Clark			None	Brother of Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark. Previously ran for the mayoralty in 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022.[15] Also running for mayor in Invercargill under the name Andrew Clark.[16][17][18]
Richard Johns			None	Retiree, and third-time mayoral candidate[18]
Tim King			None	Incumbent mayor since 2019[11][18][19]
Timo Neubauer			Independent	Urban designer who lives in Hope.[12] Also running to be a councillor in the Richmond general ward.[18]
Richard Osmaston			None	Previously ran for the mayoralties of Westland, Grey, Buller, Marlborough, Nelson, and Tasman in 2022.[20] Also running to be a councillor in the Lakes-Murchison general ward,[18] and concurrently for the mayoralties of four other councils: Nelson, Buller, Grey and Westland.[21]

Councillors

Te Tai o Aorere Māori ward

Te Tai o Aorere Māori ward will return one councillor to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Paul Morgan			None	CNZM (2022; for services to Māori and business)[23]

Richmond general ward

Richmond general ward will return four councillors to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Glen Daikee			None	Incumbent councillor[11]
Jo Ellis			None	Incumbent councillor[11]
Mark Greening			Sensible, Affordable and Ethical	Incumbent councillor[11]
Kit Maling			Independent	Incumbent councillor[11]
Timo Neubauer			Independent	Also running for mayor[18]
Daniel Shirley			ACT Local	[24][25]

Motueka general ward

Motueka general ward will return three councillors to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Kerryn Ferneyhough			None
Brent Maru			None	Incumbent councillor[11]
David Ross			ACT Local	[26][25]
Trindi Walker			None	Incumbent councillor[11]

Moutere-Waimea general ward

Moutere-Waimea general ward will return three councillors to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Julian Eggers			Independent
Michael Kininmonth			None	Incumbent councillor[11]
Dean McNamara			Sensible, Affordable and Ethical	Former two-term councillor who lost his seat in 2022[27]
Dave Woods			None

Golden Bay general ward

Golden Bay general ward will return two councillors to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Rod Barker			None
Celia Butler			None	Incumbent councillor[11]
Axel Downard-Wilke			Independent	Transport planner, engineer and Wikipedian[28][29]
Julian Hall			None	[30]
Mark Hume			None

Lakes-Murchison general ward

Lakes-Murchison general ward will return one councillor to the district council.^[22]

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Nicola Allan			None
John Gully			None
Richard Osmaston			None	Perennial candidate from the Money Free movement;[20] also standing for mayor.[18]

Community boards

Tasman District Council has two community boards: one covering Golden Bay and the other for the Motueka ward. Four community board members will be elected per board.^[1]

Golden Bay Community Board

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Sunshine Appleby			Independent
Clarissa Bruning			None
Henry Dixon			Independent	Incumbent board member
Axel Downard-Wilke			Independent	Also running to be a councillor for the Golden Bay general ward.
Grant Knowles			None	Incumbent board member
Mark Raffills			None
Rodney Ward			Independent	Local businessman[31]

Motueka Community Board

Candidate[13]	Photo	Affiliation[a]		Notes
Raymond Hellyer			None
Claire Hutt			None	Incumbent board member
John Katene			None
Laura Lusk			None
David Ogilvie			None	Has previously served in various roles between 1971 and 2022.[32]

Results

Final results are expected by 17 October.

Summary

Ward	Previous		Elected
Mayor		Tim King		to be determined
Golden Bay		Celia Butler
		Chris Hill
Lakes / Murchison		Stuart Bryant
Motueka		Barry Dowler
		Brent Maru
		Trindi Walker
Moutere / Waimea		Mike Kininmonth
		Christine Mackenzie
		Dan Shallcrass
Richmond		Glen Daikee
		Jo Ellis
		Mark Greening
		Kit Maling

Should the district have Māori wards?

Choice	Votes	%
Result not yet known
Total votes	—	100.00

See also

• 2025 Nelson City Council election

Notes

1. A candidate may leave their affiliation blank, run as an independent, or run with an affiliation to an organisation, local body ticket or political party. Tasman District Council does not allow election slogans to be used for the affiliation.^[14]