An urgent bill has passed Parliament today to protect ratepayers from the prospect of costly by-elections.

The Malinauskas Labor Government introduced the Local Government (Casual Vacancies) Amendment Bill 2023 into Parliament during the last sitting week, after forty-five elected council members failed to lodge campaign donation returns on time.

Without this legislative change, ratepayers could have faced multiple by-elections across the state, likely to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, with some South Australians potentially voting for the fifth time in the space of a year, taking into account State, Federal and Local Government elections and by-elections.

The LGA recently wrote to the State Government to seek a resolution that avoided significant disruption to the democratic process and the business of councils.

The Bill also provides certainty for councils by ensuring that any decisions made by these members and their councils during the period of the vacancies are not invalid.

Given the importance of transparent information about campaign donations returns, council members who have not yet lodged their returns will be granted ten additional days to lodge the returns to avoid the prospect of losing their elected position permanently.

Quotes

Attributable to Kyam Maher

We have taken swift action to ensure ratepayers are not burdened with costly by-elections from the actions of a few council members.

It is vital that the electoral system holds transparency for voters and all requirements must still be adhered to.

Attributable to Geoff Brock

We needed to resolve this issue so that councils can continue the important business of providing local services and facilities to their communities.

We will be looking at steps to ensure this never happens again, I have asked my department to undertake a thorough review of local government elections.