From 9 September to 11 October, you can make a difference in your community by voting in your local election and Māori ward referenda.
August 26, 2025
This year, we're standing up for thriving, connected communities.
Our local communities are spaces for us to connect with each other, care for each other, and to contribute to a future that benefits us all.
But division is making it harder for councils to make responsible, pragmatic decisions that benefit everyone in the long term.
This year, you can make a difference in your community by voting in your local election from 9 September to 11 October. Your council may also be voting on whether to keep its Māori ward.
Voting for valued, publicly owned services will allow your council to foster community and act with everyone's interests at heart.
Voting to keep Māori wards will help your council become a better reflection of your community, and have more ways to harness our collective strength.
Keep checking this page for information, events, and resources about key issues facing our members and our communities, and what you can do to contribute.
Our election pledges
We’re asking candidates across the motu to commit to pledges that will help build strong, Te Tiriti-honouring services in local government.
You can take these pledges along to other election events to ask candidates and see if their priorities align with ours.
Come along to candidate forums
Location
Event
Details
Link
Kirikiriroa Hamilton
Unions Waikato Election Forum
Date: Wednesday 10 September Time: 5:30pm – 7:00pm Venue: Trade Union Centre meeting room, 34 Harwood Street, Hamilton
Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta Upper Hutt
PSA Mayoral Candidate Forum
Date: Tuesday 16 September Time: Arrive from 6:00 pm, event runs from 6:30pm to 8pm Venue: Maidstone Sports Hub, 11 Railway Avenue
Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Hutt City
Living Wage Hutt Local Government Election Forum
Date: Thursday 11 September Time: Arrive from 6:00 pm for a 6:30 pm start Venue: Treadwell Street Hall
Decide Together, Thrive Together has collected some ways you can gather and share information to support the campaign.
PSA members running for office
A diverse array of PSA members around the country committing to providing democratic leadership in their communities by putting themselves up as candidates in the local body elections.
The Regulatory Standards Bill is designed to put profit ahead of people, erase Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and make effective provision of public and community services incredibly difficult.
Families across the country are facing a cost of living crisis and public service pay has been squeezed for over a decade. Thank you to everyone who has been standing together and using our collective strength to negotiate a pay increase that takes the cost of living into account and stops people’s pay going backwards.
What the PSA's doing to ensure workers' voices are represented in the Government's reforms of Aotearoa's water systems, and what you can do to participate.
In New Zealand, we’re very fortunate to have a public healthcare system. But for too long, it's had some major flaws: our system doesn’t care for all our communities equally, services are often disconnected and it doesn’t look after our healthcare workers – the people who work hard every day to support our health – with fair pay and conditions.
Every year, more than 100,000 New Zealanders are made redundant, laid off, or have to stop working because of a health condition or disability. The Government, Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions are proposing a new way of better protecting workers and the economy: a New Zealand Income Insurance scheme.
