No governance/oversight functions at all? That’s disappointing. I guess the electoral body has no business overseeing council’s business, …but a half-assed, give it to the intern examination would highlight that for the nonsense that it is.
No governance/oversight functions at all? That’s disappointing. I guess the electoral body has no business overseeing council’s business, …but a half-assed, give it to the intern examination would highlight that for the nonsense that it is.
On this, Councils can use a private provider to conduct the election. I think that there’s 2 Councils in Sydney are doing it that way this election.
Yeah that’s just the way that the Local Government Act is structured, the NSWEC is just an administrator and regulator for the purpose of council elections, or as eddie says councils can choose to use an alternative provider.
Elections NSW should never oversee councils, that’s the role of the the Office of Local Government. The election body only oversees elections - they’re the referee, not the rule-maker.
Yep, Fairfield and Liverpool I believe.
Just sent in my council election postal vote from the US. I didn’t feel like spending US$40 to get it there in a week so it’s gone regular stampage mail - 2 to 3 weeks.
The cutoff for postal votes is Sep 27. If mine arrives after that, I know it doesn’t count, but would I get a fine for not voting?
They might ask for a reason why you “haven’t voted”, or at least why they haven’t received a vote from you. If you explain that its on its way in the mail, that may be enough to avoid a fine? I know I’ve had a message/phone call (can’t remember which) sent to me in the past asking for an explanation and it was cleared up after that.
Where are you located? Stupid question, but is there an Aussie consulate nearby? Does Australia allow for voting at consulates?
I reckon that would count as a sufficient reason for not voting:
Think you are excused as an overseas Aussie with a fixed international address.
Additionally, I was actually de-registered after living out of my electorate for too long.
There is a consulate office here but they don’t do voting for local elections. Only federal.
Man the lack of a candidate with even a coherent message is pretty depressing. I know it’s only the council but bloody hell. Everyone wants better services and infrastructure but also wants to lower rates. Immediately you’re not getting my vote.
Well you had options, in the Ashfield Ward (yes, that’s Dully’s Ward), you had Labor, Liberal and Greens and that’s it.
Where you’ll get one of each
Is it just me or do neither NSW Elections nor the ABC have results available?
My favourite was a candidate that wanted to stop development while also talking about house prices and rents being too high
Yup. During the last local elections I was living in Chatswood. Every candidate was against “overdevelopment”, including the incumbents. In Chatswood…
It’s still the same. Problem is anyone not in an apartment on the lower north shore is against development in general.
For us in Wollongong, the big issue is the offshore wind zone.
Every single independent (early signs are we’ll have two on council at least) talked about being in favour of “sensible” renewables but against offshore wind. Never mind that we’re curtailing a crazy amount of the “sensible” renewables in the middle of the day right now (something like 100gwh in one week of august), and meanwhile we can’t get enough in the cloudy windless spells of May-June… meanwhile offshore wind remains pretty consistent.