Road Rates and Rubbish in conjunction with Local Government Reform and WARRA are undertaking their 2nd community survey, this time seeking impressions and comments on the recent Local Government Elections.

Please take the survey here, you can take the survey anonymously if you prefer.

WA Local Government Elections 2023

The 2023 Local Government Election was the first since 2005 to feature preferential voting, in this case optional preferential voting, it is unclear why this method was considered in the absense of compulsory voting other than then LG Minister Carey's  suggestion that compulsory voting was not `cost effective` without prior amalgamations, a logic we are still unable to unravel.

Without compulsory voting, any of the heralded benefits of an optional preferential system are lost, or simply swap pros for cons with a first past the post system.

Compulsory voting would for instance repair the significant issues with the postal voting system in a State that has electoral rules and regulations, but zero effective oversight.

With so few votes cast in a non-compulsory system, vote tampering, aged-care harvesting and plain misfeasance can have a significant effect on election outcomes, with a larger pool of compulsory voting these tactics will have far less effect.

As it stands, there is little lost or gained by the optional preferential system and until the WAEC provides effective oversight of Local Government elections a prudent State government would introduce compulsory voting immediately.

What has become clearer than ever in the Metropolitan LGA’s is the underlying politicisation of Local Government.

There are many sensible Local Government Election reforms to be had, the last 2 Ministers have failed to provide any and we are hoping that Minister David Michael uses his considerable understanding of the good and bad in Local Government, to do something about it and avoid dipping his pen in the purple ink prior to the next round of much needed Local Government reform.

The Minister may wish to start with the proposed Model Codes for an Elections Caretaker Policy, those that already have such a policy, seem to use them somewhat capriciously, or as in the City of Stirling's case are so badly written that they are effectively unenforceable.

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