MP's flyer raises eyebrows over border

National Party candidate Todd Muller

Electoral boundaries changes which have seen parts of Tauranga become part of the Rotorua electorate are still causing confusion among some Bay of Plenty residents.

Flyers for National's Bay of Plenty candidate Todd Muller ended up in the letterboxes of a number of rural Tauranga's Ohauiti Rd residents who are now part of the Rotorua electorate, sparking discussion amongst neighbours as to which area they were in.

The confusion encouraged Ohauiti Rd resident Margaret Dagg to check where the new boundaries lay on the Electoral Commission's website.

"It has confused people around me I know," she said. "It's a misunderstanding of a lot of people - they haven't really quite realised the boundary changes are quite significant."

Mrs Dagg said she believed the confusion meant people would not know who their candidates were or where to go to vote.

"I believe that because of the confusion people are not going to vote," she said.

Mr Muller said he had been warned a handful of Rotorua constituents would also get the flyer.

"RD5 rural zone has a small overlap into Rotorua. The rural delivery guys don't work on the electoral boundaries, they work on the postal boundary. We made the call that it was better to get the National Party message out more broadly," he said.

"The New Zealand Post rule is that you either put something into every letterbox or you don't do any."

Mr Muller said he did not believe it had caused confusion nor would it on polling day. Growth in the area meant boundaries were likely to change again next time the areas were reviewed in 2020, he said.

"There will be a school of thought that by 2020 there could be a third Tauranga seat."