7.2 Demographic panels

Demographic panels

Auckland Council has six demographic advisory panels: 

These panels advise the Governing Body and staff on regional and strategic matters within the remit of the Auckland Plan and offer strategic advice on other council plans and strategies that impact their communities. Local boards may also engage with the panels when they wish to seek panels’ views on matters of relevance to both the local boards and the Governing Body. 

For more information on the council’s demographic panels, see the Terms of Reference on the relevant panel page on Advisory panels.  

Membership

The mayor appoints demographic panel members, with the endorsement of the Governing Body, based on: 

The selection process is open to the public for applications. To minimise any conflicts of interest, elected members and staff of the council group are not eligible to be members. 

Each advisory panel has between eight and twelve members who are all Auckland-based. 

The Youth Advisory Panel members are aged between 14 and 24 years at the time of appointment.  Members of the Seniors Advisory Panel are over 65 years.  For other panels, members must be over 18 years old. 

All advisory panel members must be either New Zealand citizens or permanent residents. They are not appointed to represent any particular organisation or entity. 

Members must abide by the Code of Conduct for members of Auckland Council Advisory panels.

Meetings and agendas

Each panel has a mixture of scheduled meetings and workshops every six weeks per year. Scheduled meetings are open to the public and any of the council’s elected members. Workshops are also held to discuss plans under development, and these are for panel members, Governing Body members and relevant council staff. Additional extraordinary meetings and workshops can also be held where resources and budget allow.  

The panels set strategic priorities for the term to focus agendas and their work programme. Cross-panel working groups are established to work across the panels on topics of mutual interest, for example, elections and civics. A co-chairs forum meets every eight weeks to collaborate and advance cross-panel strategic priorities. Cross-panel meetings can also be developed in collaboration with staff on significant pieces of strategy development, for example, Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy consolidation or Storm Recovery.  

Liaison councillors and council staff assist panel members in developing the work programmes and any subsequent changes. These are then approved by the Policy and Planning Committee.

Advisory panels are encouraged to facilitate occasional community forums or online engagement between community members and council staff. Panel members work with staff where appropriate to ensure these activities complement council engagement commitments and processes. 

Engagement with the council

A key way in which the advisory panels engage with the council is through liaison councillors. 

The mayor appoints a chief liaison councillor to: 

The mayor also appoints a liaison councillor for each of the six advisory panels. The liaison councillor: 

Resourcing, fees and expenses 

The council sets an annual budget for the panels. All panel members are entitled to meeting fees and reimbursement of expenses. These are determined by the Auckland Council Fees Framework and Expenses Policy for Appointed Members. 

For more information, visit Governance structure, leadership and decision-making overview.