The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA) has called for urgent changes to the Local Government Act 1999 to reinstate more than 40 elected councillors who it claims have unfairly lost office due to an “administrative error”.
LGASA President, Dean Johnson says immediate changes to legislation could be made by the Parliament to restore elected members across 36 councils, saving ratepayers potentially thousands in elections costs and avoiding the need for legal appeals.
He said while accountability and transparency of campaign donations and gifts were essential, the cost and consequence of not getting donation returns paperwork in on time was disproportionate and unwarranted.
“While the LGA accepts that individual elected officials bear personal responsibility for complying with their campaign reporting obligations, it appears the cost and consequence of not submitting paperwork on time is utterly unreasonable,” Mayor Johnson said.
“The unprecedented scale of this issue, state-wide, is also evidence there was a broader problem with the system – after twenty years in local government, I haven’t seen anything like this.
“South Australians shouldn’t need to foot the bill of legislative bureaucracy – not only is there a potentially expensive and time-consuming legal appeals process through the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, but ratepayers will ultimately pay for the additional cost of more council elections.
“While some vacancies could fall to countback provisions in the legislation, this negates the vote communities put forward in November’s elections and means their first-choice candidate can no longer represent them for the next three and a half years because of a relatively minor oversight.”
Mayor Johnson said those affected were shocked to discover they’d missed the deadline and have been frustrated by the new process, facing difficulties with the Electoral Commission’s digital submission portal and pointed out shortcomings with reminders and warnings.
“I’ve taken several calls from elected members who are devastated by the news, it appears in some cases council members didn’t receive any correspondence until after they automatically lost office in mid to late January,” Mayor Johnson said.
“It’s evident several members who lost office are first time council members who may not have been wholly familiar with these important reporting obligations.
“It is also the case that some returning and first-time members may have found the new additional campaign donation and large gift return submission requirements – that applied for the first time at the November 2022 elections – confusing.
“Taking all of these matters into account, we can’t help but call for immediate action to circumvent costly and unnecessary legal proceedings, supplementary elections or mandatory countbacks that strips people of their democratic vote.”
