Ministerial Statement

Local Government Elections

The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Stuart—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Regional Roads, Minister for Veterans Affairs) (14:07): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.G. BROCK: The year 2022 may well be the 'year of elections', but on 23 August the most important election process of the year will start. This is the day when nominations for election to our local councils open.

One of the things that is said most often about councils is that they are 'the sphere of government closest to the community'. It is said a lot as it is absolutely true. When you think about the services that have the most impact on people day to day, that define their lives within their local area and often form the connections that make us a community, they are very often delivered by their local council.

Any member of parliament will tell you that the issues raised in our election, or the questions and concerns brought to us in our electorate offices, are often about the decisions and the actions of the local council. But I think one of the challenges for councils is to translate this reliance on councils into participation, and nowhere in this challenge is it more important than in local council elections.

Unlike state and federal elections, of course, voting for South Australian councils is voluntary. Voter turnout is therefore an excellent indication of citizens' sense of engagement with their local council and also with the candidates who are standing. Improving voter turnout is an ongoing challenge.

At the 2018 council elections it was just 33 per cent. While this was low, it was slightly higher than the 2014 elections, which, as the Electoral Commission pointed out in its report on the 2018 elections, 'bucked the trend' of declining participation in other elections both in South Australia and around the nation. If this pattern continues this year, we are heading, slowly but surely, in the right direction but not fast enough.

Like all governments, councils can only be as good as the people they consist of. That is why it is essential that we attract as wide a range as possible of highly qualified candidates—people who have a real commitment to supporting their community and making their local area a better place.

One of the highlights of the 2018 election was the record number of candidates across all 200-plus elections that were held. There was both an increase in the number of candidates and a decrease in uncontested elections from the 2010 council elections. It was not only the sheer number that was great to see but also the big increase in women standing and being elected. Female candidates increased from 28.6 per cent to 33 per cent, and 42 per cent of mayors elected in the 2018 council elections were women, with another 40 per cent of female ward councillors and 29 per cent of councillors at large.

But there are still sections of our population that are not sufficiently well represented: young people, Aboriginal people, people from diverse cultural backgrounds. While having almost 50 per cent of our local leaders as women is great, we can still aim for 50 per cent across the board. We must recognise that the quality and diversity of our candidates also drive voter turnout. Increasingly, people simply will not vote if they are faced with a list of candidates they do not think will represent them well.

I also recognise that there is a real risk this year that council elections will be impacted by being the third election this year—that a sense of 'election fatigue' may affect both nominations and voter turnout. That is why I am asking all councils, the Local Government Association and the Electoral Commission to work together to invest in the promotion of this year's local government and to make sure that this investment is as productive as possible.

I also note that there are a number of people in this chamber who, like myself, have made the transition from local to state government and, also like myself, I am sure that they would say that serving on their council provided that first great opportunity to both represent and support their local communities.

My time as a council member and Mayor of the Port Pirie Regional Council was one of the most rewarding periods of my life. I therefore call on all my fellow members in this house to do what we can to encourage good local people to stand for their council and to encourage all people to cast their vote when they receive it in the mail in October. We must never lose sight of the fact that participation is what it is all about—as candidates, as voters and, when our new councils are elected, as active participants in our local decisions.

Finally, I would like to also acknowledge the fact that this will be the first council election held in South Australia for many years without the contribution of the Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Mr David Gully. I am advised that Mr Gully is now on leave pending his planned retirement and that in characteristic fashion he has planned matters so that his formal retirement will start exactly on his 25^th anniversary in the job.

While it may therefore be a little premature, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Gully for his dedication to making sure that both state and local government elections in South Australia are run smoothly and with great integrity. I wish him all the best in his future plans, and we will do our very level best to run a local government election without him. Again, I encourage everyone in this house to encourage people in their own communities to stand as a candidate in the forthcoming council elections and wish everybody the best.