The metropolitan area is made up of Auckland City (excluding the Hauraki Gulf islands), North Shore City, the urban parts of Waitakere and Manukau cities, and Papakura District and some urban parts of Rodney and Franklin Districts. The Auckland Regional Council is the regional council with jurisdiction for the area.

Central government have recommended the amalgamation of local government into an Auckland Council. Some Aucklanders blame limited progress on Auckland's issues on poor governance and the fragmentation of the city into various councils (currently seven "City/District" authorities, plus one "Regional" authority).

Others point to the fact that a previous integration of the many much smaller Borough Councils did not bring the promised advantages either, and reduced local participation in politics.

In 2007, the government set up a Royal Commission on Auckland Governance to report on what restructuring should be done. The report was released on March 27, 2009 and the government subsequently announced that a "super city" would be set up to include the full metropolitan area under an Auckland Council with a single mayor and 20-30 local boards, by the time of the local body elections in 2010.

Many aspects of the proposed reorganisation were or are still controversial, such whether all of the Auckland Region should be integrated into the super city, or whether the new structure allows sufficient local democracy.

National

Between 1842 and 1865, Auckland was the capital city of New Zealand. The capital was moved to Wellington in 1865.

Auckland, because of its large population, is currently covered by 21 general electorates and three Maori electorates. Prior to 2008, there were only 20 general electorates, with the new seat of Botany being created in 2008 due to the increase in population around Auckland.

As of the 2008 election, thirteen of the seats are held by the governing National Party, eight seats (seven general, one Maori) being held by the opposing Labour Party, one seat by the ACT Party, and two seats (both Maori) by the Maori Party.