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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-06-16 Daily Xml
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Local Government Elections

Ms SAVVAS (Newland) (15:11): Today, I would like to speak on the importance of engagement with local government elections, continuing on from the Minister for Local Government's ministerial statement read to the house yesterday. Of course, 2022 is the election year for South Australians, having been to the ballot box twice already for the state and federal elections and having the upcoming local government elections in November. I would like to reflect on my own time in local government, where I was privileged to represent the Balmoral ward in the City of Tea Tree Gully for the past three years.

The minister did put it very eloquently when he remarked that local government is 'the sphere of government closest to the community', and I could not agree more. Although the jump from local government to state government is large and the two spheres are governed in very different ways, I have had a three-year head start in community representation, and in that period of time I have been lucky enough to get to know the wonderful schools, churches, community groups, sporting clubs, service clubs and not so wonderful septic tank system in the north-eastern suburbs.

The seat of Newland falls entirely within one council area, the City of Tea Tree Gully, and I am incredibly grateful for the support from that council and for the relationships that I have formed there. I would like to make a particular mention of outgoing CEO John Moyle for his service to local government over many decades and send my best wishes to incoming CEO Ryan McMahon, who will take over as the CEO later in the year.

As a councillor, there were two things I valued more than anything. The first was our bus tours. Every few months, the councillors got on a minibus with the executive team and toured the city to see council projects, road upgrades and sporting clubs. Being involved on this level was so important, as was seeing the progress of projects we had committed to for our community.

I was also privileged enough often to be allocated the role of name reading at citizenship ceremonies. Last week, I was lucky to return to Sfera's in Civic Park for a Tea Tree Gully citizenship ceremony, as was the member for Morialta, not as the council name reader, unfortunately, but as a guest speaker. There is nothing that makes me prouder than being part of the moment when a resident becomes a citizen, and I cherish those ceremonies, those discussions with new citizens and the warmth and pride in their eyes when they are officially declared not only Australians but Tea Tree Gullyans.

I would like to put on the record my thanks to the council staff for their role in putting on those ceremonies as well as the wonderful staff at Sfera's, who put on so many of our community events. Being elected to the Tea Tree Gully council in 2018 at the age of 22 was at that time the greatest privilege of my life. It was also a time of change and renewal for not only our council but councils across the state.

In our council, we had five women elected for the first time ever. We also had two female ward councillors elected in the same ward for the first time. In fact, across the state 40 per cent of ward councillors elected in 2018 were women. In Tea Tree Gully we also saw two women under 30 elected for the first time ever, a woman under 30 never having been elected before.

Female candidates increased in 2018, from 28.6 per cent to 33 per cent, and 42 per cent of mayors elected in the 2018 council elections were women as well. I would like to make a specific mention of the former mayor of Onkaparinga, the member for Davenport, who was elected in that election and who has since joined us in this place.

I would also like to acknowledge the number of members in this place who have served in local government over the span of many years—and I hope I do not miss any. The members for Hartley, Light, Morphett, Black, Flinders and Davenport have all been elected members at a local government level—

An honourable member: And Unley.

Ms SAVVAS: —and Unley—as have the Minister for Local Government and, many, many years ago, the Minister for Planning. I am sure they would all agree that local government is an incredible opportunity and also an incredible privilege—

Mr Hughes interjecting:

Ms SAVVAS: And, of course, the member for Giles, who I missed as well. I knew I would miss someone, particularly someone in the room. I am sure they would all agree that local government is an incredible opportunity and also an incredible privilege to represent the 68 councils and hundreds of communities across South Australia.

I thoroughly encourage participation in the upcoming council elections, not just by voting but by standing, and I will make myself available to any person who wants to talk about standing for local government. I hope to see a particularly diverse range of candidates coming up and some very healthy competition in my home council come November.

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