PS Council Elections, Special Briefing
The Australian Electoral Company (AEC) will be holding elections for Port Stephens Councillors and a popularly elected Mayor on Saturday September 8 2012.
These elections will be significantly different to past elections because in the three Council wards, East, Central and West the representation will be reduced from four to three, and the Mayor will be popularly elected by the people, not the Councillors.
The election process is very complex with above and below the line voting, Groups of Candidates, Optional Preferential Voting and Proportional Representation.
TRRA sees this election as pivotal in the future of Port Stephens for the next four years in the short term but also for its long term future in tough times. We think that it is crucial to get the right people at the helm to steer this Council out of the financial, legal, personality problems of the past.
TRRA requested that the Council or the AEC address our members at a General Meeting to explain this complex process in layman’s terms so that our members could make sure that they understood who and what they were voting for. The Council are holding a series of briefings for the candidates over coming weeks and one was held Thursday June 14. Speaking to some of the candidates recently it was clear to us that even they had more questions than answers about how preferences flowed within groups etc.
Our request has been verbally refused by the Council on the grounds that if they did it for our group they would have to do it for anyone that asked, and that would be too time consuming and expensive!! We will write to the AEC Returning Officer to see what he can do about a briefing without incurring a cost. Democracy it seems has a price and it looks like it has become too expensive!
TRRA however has studied the available literature (which is extensive but complex) and have had representatives at the Candidate Briefings (not candidates) and we will be presenting an unbiased, comprehensive briefing to our members and any of the concerned public who wish to attend at a special Meeting at 7.30pm Nelson Bay Bowling Club on July 16 2012.
We will also be presenting a short list of questions that we will be putting to the candidates in writing prior to a subsequent meeting in August when we will give them the opportunity to answer them for the public before the election. We want your input and feedback to formulate those questions at our meeting, please come along and ‘Have Your Say’ of comment here on our website. The questions will be posted here as we develop them with your input.
TRRA has taken a decision not to support any individual candidates in this election, but to provide a opportunity for members and the public to scrutinise all the candidates and their policies fairly and help explain the election process so that their votes will really count in the way they intend.
link to Election Information on Council Website: HERE
In those LGAs where the NSW Electoral Commission is conducting the ballot, blind voters are able to get braille ballot papers. Does the Australian Election Company* provide the same service? I cannot seem to obtain an answer from them.
*(proper name, not “electoral” as you have it. http://www.austelect.com)
As ratepayers we are effectively losing 2 councillors from the Local Government area of Port Stephens, and maybe losing one from East Ward. This means less representation after the 2008 referendum. It was worded by Council staff, i.e. “Do you support a popular-elected mayor and 3 councillors for each ward?”. The Council bureaucrats will be delighted to have fewer councillors, but what would be the worst case scenario would be to have to replace a popular-elected mayor due to resignation, death or being sacked for illegal activities, and also having a hostile council. Cost of replacing a mayor would be in excess of $300K.
I realise it is TRRA policy to not endorse any political party or individual, but in view of some of the decisions made by the current Council, decisions that will hit us all in the hip pocket, and in view of the 2011 NSW Government Report into the council don’t you think its your responsibility to ‘de’ endorse some members or groups in the current administration. I am sure anybody that has read the NSW 2011 report on the Council would be of the same opinion