In a statement, the Electoral Commission said when reviewing the boundaries and names, the number of submissions received on any one topic is just one of the factors considered.
“The most important factor guiding decision making in this case was the need to choose a set of electorate names that will last for several boundary review cycles without having to be amended,” the commission said.
“The new electorate boundaries and names are final and submissions cannot be reopened.”
Speaking to Newstalk ZB, Genter said “we’ll be able to change it back” after the next review, in about five years.
The MP said she’d spoken to many people in the electorate who were “very unhappy at the name change”.
The Green Party had been running a petition to “restore our Māori place names” which Genter said had been signed by tens of thousands of people, including those living on the Chatham Islands, who she claimed “feel excluded from the electorate” due to the new name.
“People from the Rongotai electorate, including the Chatham Islands, knew the name and really understood it,” Genter said.
“It’s a beautiful Māori name that means sound or feel of the tide or the coast. I do think that was quite appropriate.”
The Wellington Central electorate was also renamed Wellington North, which the Representation Commission’s report justified by saying: “In the capital Wellington Central and Rongotai move north and west respectively. Following consideration of several objections, an area around Webb Street now no longer moves from Wellington Central to Rongotai. To more accurately reflect their current disposition and likely direction of future growth, these electorates are renamed Wellington North and Wellington Bays, respectively.”
Documents show former political adviser Neale Jones objected to retaining the name Rongotai, stating it did not reflect the geography or identity of the area.
“I am open to the idea of another te reo Māori name, but do not pretend to be expert enough to suggest one,” Jones said in his submission.
“However, one thing that does connect much of the electorate is that it is either near the coast or has a view of the coast. When you think of the area, you have Lyall Bay, Island Bay, Scorching Bay, Breaker Bay, Worser Bay, Houghton Bay, Owhiro Bay, Evans Bay and so on. Therefore I suggest the name “Wellington Bays” for the electorate. This name evokes the identity and geography of the area,” Jones wrote.
The two other submitters suggested the area be re-named “South Wellington” or “Wellington South”.
Genter said the name change that came about was not broadly consulted on, as “the Representation Commission consulted on the boundary change and keeping the name the same”.
The Wellington Bays electorate, formerly Rongotai, encapsulates Lyall Bay, Island Bay, Scorching Bay, Breaker Bay, Worser Bay, Houghton Bay, Evans Bay and Owhiro Bay. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Data obtained by Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act shows the Electoral Commission spent just over $1 million to deliver the 2025 electorate boundary review – which included $519,812 on specialist services and $377,627 on personnel and related costs.
The cost of the 2025 boundary review was less than the 2019 one, which cost $1.35m.
As of mid-August, the commission had spent $82,408 to enact the changes, including $38,969 on printing and distribution.
The agency said, in its OIA response, many of the changes were technical in nature and formed part of the commission’s overarching work plan for the upcoming election.
Genter said it was a “shock” when the commission took the name change suggestion and said it was “basically only announced on the day it was gazetted, so it was too late to change it back”.
“The threshold should be extremely high for a name change, and in this case, it really makes no sense,” Genter added.
“I think the representation commission made a huge mistake in taking the suggestion of one person to call it Wellington Bays,” she said.
The MP wrote to the chair of the representation commission on the change, showcasing signatures on a Green Party petition to keep the Rongotai title, but said she was told the names had been legally gazetted.
“There will be a future consultation, probably in about five years on boundaries and names, and that will be the moment when we’ll be able to change it back, unless there was an amendment to the legislation that governs this”.
Act MP Todd Stephenson was pleased the most recent boundary review was cheaper than its 2019 iteration.
Stephenson said the commission should be congratulated for the costs, but acknowledged “there is some debate about whether they need to change the name of all electorates”.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.