House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Local Government Elections Local Government Elections Mr TELFER House of Assembly Flinders Local Government Elections Mr TELFER (Flinders) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Local Government. Has the minister requested a briefing from the Electoral Commission on the number of complaints received on the local government election process, including on reports of serious allegations of fraud or irregularity? The Hon. G.G. BROCK House of Assembly Stuart Minister for Local Government Minister for Regional Roads Minister for Veterans Affairs Local Government Elections The Hon. G.G. BROCK (Stuart—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Regional Roads, Minister for Veterans Affairs) (15:02): As I said before, the Electoral Commission of South Australia ran elections across all of South Australia. As most people would be aware in here, I had two weeks off for sick leave and I'm just catching up at the moment. I am in the process of arranging meetings with the relevant people, and we are going to arrange a meeting with the Electoral Commissioner in the near future. Unfortunately, I had two weeks off for sick leave and my office is now catching up. Can I reinforce my belief that the Electoral Commission did a good job of running the electoral campaigns across all of South Australia. I'm also very pleased with the turnout at council elections across all of regional South Australia in particular and also metropolitan. At the same time, whilst the turnouts were in addition to the previous one in 2018, I think we in this chamber, across all our regions and across metropolitan, need to promote local government across all our communities and through the— Mr TEAGUE House of Assembly Heysen Mr TEAGUE: Point of order. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. A. Koutsantonis House of Assembly West Torrens Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister for Energy and Mining The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Here we go: if it please the court— The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Member for West Torrens, order! I will hear the member for Heysen. The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is called to order. Mr TEAGUE House of Assembly Heysen Mr TEAGUE: It's 98(a). There is no occasion to give a general review of the outcome. The minister is required to answer the question. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I will listen carefully. The Hon. G.G. BROCK House of Assembly Stuart Minister for Local Government Minister for Regional Roads Minister for Veterans Affairs The Hon. G.G. BROCK: I did indicate at the start that I am in the process of arranging meetings with the Electoral Commission of South Australia. That will be done, as I have said. The last two weeks I have been off for sick leave, but certainly that is in the program for the next week or so—to have the meeting when the Electoral Commissioner is available for the meeting.