LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:32): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question relating to local government elections.

Leave granted..

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Last week, on Monday 15 November, the Minister for State/Local Government Relations said on ABC radio, in relation to voter turnout in local government elections, 'The final result was excellent.' Due to an opt-in voter roll system being introduced for businesses and property holders, there were approximately 15 per cent fewer voters on the roll at this election. As the percentage of enrolled voters who turned out was almost equal to that in 2006, this equates to a drop in voter turnout of approximately 15 per cent. My questions are:

1. Does the minister accept that there has been a reduction in voters at the recent local government elections?

2. Why does the minister think it is 'excellent' to see fewer people voting in elections?

3. What measures is the minister introducing to ensure that local government voter participation increases rather than falls?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (14:33): I thank the honourable member for his important questions. I did have some figures but, unfortunately, I do not have them with me at present. However, I have recently been briefed in terms of the outcomes from the local government elections and I am very pleased to say that, in fact, the results so far look very promising. I do have some figures here, if you will just bear with me.

This local government election was one which demonstrated a great degree of interest and vibrancy from the local government sector. I have been very impressed with the outcome. This year, we saw 67 councils elect their representatives. I am informed that 1,274 people nominated for 709 available positions. This is an increase of nearly 2 per cent over the 2006 elections. As well, this year, 362 women, or 28.41 per cent of nominees, nominated to stand as a candidate. This is a record for the total number of women nominating, as well as the percentage of nominations.

Members will recall that South Australia has a Strategic Plan target to increase voter turnout to 50 per cent by 2014. This is an ambitious target, but nevertheless we are on our way, or at least we are trending in the right direction. It is obviously a stretch target, an aspirational target, but this year we have faced the hurdle of three elections being held in South Australia over an eight-month period of time. Most of the analysis done determined that that was likely to have a negative impact in terms of voter fatigue. The final results are obviously not yet available from the Electoral Commission, but no doubt they will be shortly and we are looking forward to seeing those.

This was the first election that was held following amendments to the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999 that came into force on 21 December 2009. Those amendments introduced reforms designed to improve the election process, increase voter participation and also enhance representation in local government. The changes were informed, as I have reported here previously, by an independent review that we did of local government elections in 2008.

One of the most significant of the amendments provides for the Electoral Commissioner, after consultation with the Local Government Association, to conduct a central promotional campaign for the local government elections to inform electors and encourage voting. The costs are covered by council and I think the feedback has been that that was a very successful campaign. People were most impressed with the quality of it, and although we saw that the voting got off to a very slow start in terms of returns of votes in the early stages, we believe that the concentration of campaign efforts and also media efforts resulted in quite a comparable turnout.

It is pleasing that there were elections for mayoral positions in 49 of the 67 councils. This year, we have also seen an increase in the number of women who take up mayoral positions. I think that has increased, I have been advised, by 3.35 per cent, which is great. This year, from 709 elected member positions, 193, or 27.2 per cent, of those elected were women, which is an improvement from 180, or 24.3 per cent, females elected after the 2006 election. That now brings South Australia on par with the national average. In the past, I have always been very disappointed that we have sat below the national average—that has now brought our average up.

There were 17 new mayors in total and 10 of those new mayors are replacing other mayors. I certainly congratulate those individuals who took part in the election and those who were successful in being elected to council, and I believe the changes we have put in place in relation to addressing improvements in participation in local council elections are off to a good start, although I believe the impacts have been masked by voter fatigue. However, I do believe that in the long term those changes will generate ongoing improvements in voter turnout.