So I came home from work yesterday, living in Brisbane which as many of you know is in Australia, imagine my surprise to discover on my letterbox an envelope from Auckland Council, containing a glossy brochure and voting forms for local body elections - for a local body 2,600 kilometres away.

Now I knew I would get voting papers for General Elections (which makes sense because even here the decisions of my home government affect me, and it's not like my new home's government lets me vote - in fact even as a ratepayer I don't believe I can vote for the Brisbane City Council), but I'm at a loss why the Auckland Council is spending a fortune on postage to let people like me who live in other countries vote for the mayor.