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New South Wales
Local Government Amendment
(Elections) Bill 2008
Contents
Page
1 Name of Act 2
2 Commencement 2
3 Amendment of Local Government Act 1993 No 30 2
4 Repeal of Act 2
Schedule 1 Amendments 3
b2007-141-01.d02b
New South Wales
Local Government Amendment
(Elections) Bill 2008
No , 2008
A Bill for
An Act to amend the Local Government Act 1993 in relation to the conduct of local
government elections, the alteration of ward boundaries, the reduction of councillor
numbers, and the role of councils during election periods; and for other purposes.
Clause 1 Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
The Legislature of New South Wales enacts: 1
1 Name of Act 2
This Act is the Local Government Amendment (Elections) Act 2008. 3
2 Commencement 4
This Act commences on the date of assent to this Act. 5
3 Amendment of Local Government Act 1993 No 30 6
The Local Government Act 1993 is amended as set out in Schedule 1. 7
4 Repeal of Act 8
(1) This Act is repealed on the day following the day on which this Act 9
commences. 10
(2) The repeal of this Act does not, because of the operation of section 30 11
of the Interpretation Act 1987, affect any amendment made by this Act. 12
Page 2
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
Schedule 1 Amendments 1
(Section 3) 2
[1] Section 8 The council's charter 3
Insert at the end of section 8 (1): 4
· to exercise its functions responsibly, including during 5
election periods for ordinary elections, and in particular to 6
observe caretaker government conventions consistently 7
with any relevant guidelines issued by the 8
Director-General. 9
[2] Section 210 Division of areas into wards 10
Insert "An increase or decrease in the number of wards (but not where this 11
would result in there being no wards) is an alteration of ward boundaries." at 12
the end of section 210 (3). 13
[3] Section 210 (5A) 14
Insert after section 210 (5): 15
(5A) An alteration of ward boundaries does not require approval at a 16
constitutional referendum. 17
Note. The procedure set out in section 210A has to be complied with 18
before a council can alter its ward boundaries. 19
[4] Sections 210A, 265, 292, 296 (except 296 (2)), 297300, 302, 303, 313315, 20
317, 319 and 739 and the introduction to Chapter 10 21
Omit "Electoral Commissioner" and "Electoral Commissioner's" wherever 22
occurring. 23
Insert instead "Electoral Commission" and "Electoral Commission's" 24
respectively. 25
[5] Section 224A Approval to reduce number of councillors 26
Omit section 224A (7). Insert instead: 27
(7) An application may be made under this section only within a 28
period determined by the Minister by order published in the 29
Gazette. The period so determined must end on or before 30 June 30
2008. 31
[6] Section 224A (9) 32
Omit the subsection. 33
Page 3
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[7] Section 224A, note 1
Insert at the end of the section: 2
Note. Sections 280 (2) and 281 (2) provide that the same number of 3
councillors is to be elected for each ward. 4
[8] Section 256 Governor may appoint administrator or order fresh election 5
Insert after section 256 (2): 6
(3) To avoid doubt, a person is eligible (and is taken always to have 7
been eligible) to be appointed and to hold office at the same time 8
as an administrator of a council and as the Director-General or 9
other officer of the Department. In that case, the Director-General 10
is to make such arrangements as the Minister directs or the 11
Director-General considers appropriate in order to avoid any 12
conflict of interest that may arise in the exercise of the functions 13
of those offices. 14
[9] Chapter 10 How are people elected to civic office? 15
Omit "preferential (wherever 1 or 2 positions must be filled) and proportional 16
(wherever 3 or more positions must be filled)" from the introduction to the 17
Chapter. 18
Insert instead "preferential (wherever only 1 position must be filled) and 19
proportional (wherever 2 or more positions must be filled)". 20
[10] Section 267 Who has the right to vote? 21
Omit "returning officer" from section 267 (4). 22
Insert instead "Electoral Commission". 23
[11] Section 285 24
Omit the section. Insert instead: 25
285 Voting system for election of councillors 26
The voting system in a contested election of a councillor or 27
councillors is to be: 28
(a) optional preferential, if only 1 councillor is to be elected, 29
or 30
(b) proportional, if the number of councillors to be elected is 2 31
or more. 32
[12] Section 290 When is an election of a mayor by councillors to be held? 33
Insert "the date of the declaration of the poll for" before "the ordinary 34
election" in section 290 (1) (a). 35
Page 4
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
[13] Section 290 (1) (c) 1
Insert "the date of the declaration of the poll for" before "the first election" 2
where secondly occurring. 3
[14] Section 290 (1) (d) 4
Insert "the date of the declaration of the poll for the" before "election" where 5
thirdly occurring. 6
[15] Chapter 10, Part 6, Division 1, heading 7
Omit "Electoral Commissioner". Insert instead "Electoral Commission". 8
[16] Section 296 Elections to be conducted by the Electoral Commission 9
Omit section 296 (2) and (3). Insert instead: 10
(2) The Electoral Commission may, by instrument in writing, 11
appoint appropriate persons to be: 12
(a) returning officers, or 13
(b) polling place managers, or 14
(c) election assistants. 15
(3) An election official is to be appointed for a specified area for a 16
specified term. The term may be specified by reference to a 17
particular period of time or by reference to a particular election. 18
(3A) A person may be appointed as returning officer for one or more 19
areas. 20
(3B) The functions of a class of election officials are: 21
(a) the functions specified by or under this Act in respect of 22
that class of official, and 23
(b) any other functions not inconsistent with this or any other 24
Act as may be specified by the Electoral Commission by: 25
(i) the instrument of appointment of officials of that 26
class, or 27
(ii) another instrument applicable to officials of that 28
class or a particular official of that class. 29
[17] Section 296 (4) 30
Omit "or substitute returning officer". 31
[18] Section 296 (4) 32
Omit "electoral official". Insert instead "election official". 33
Page 5
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[19] Section 296 (5) 1
Insert "Electoral Commission and" after "the" where secondly occurring. 2
[20] Section 296 (5) 3
Omit "and substitute returning officer". 4
[21] Section 296 (6) (b) 5
Omit "returning officer, substitute returning officer and electoral officials". 6
Insert instead "election officials". 7
[22] Section 296 (7) 8
Omit ", returning officer, substitute returning officer and electoral officials". 9
[23] Section 296 (7) 10
Omit "as the holder of that office". 11
[24] Section 296 (7A) 12
Insert after section 296 (7): 13
(7A) Without affecting the operation of any other provisions of this 14
Act, the Electoral Commission may, in accordance with the 15
regulations, appoint places (whether or not those places are 16
appointed polling places under subsection (6)) at which mobile 17
polling booths and mobile polling teams, however described, 18
may visit for the purpose of taking votes at an election before 19
election day. 20
[25] Section 296 (8) 21
Omit ", the returning officer and the substitute returning officer". 22
Insert instead "and the returning officer". 23
[26] Section 297 Delegation of functions by the Electoral Commission 24
Insert at the end of the section: 25
(2) An election official who is a delegate of the Electoral 26
Commission may sub-delegate the function to another election 27
official to the extent the delegate is authorised to do so by the 28
Electoral Commission. 29
Page 6
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
[27] Chapter 10, Part 6, Division 2 1
Omit "Electoral Commissioner" wherever occurring in the note before section 2
298. 3
Insert instead "Electoral Commission". 4
[28] Section 298 Residential roll 5
Omit "the Commissioner's" from section 298 (3). 6
Insert instead "the Commission's". 7
[29] Section 303 Making of claims for inclusion in the roll 8
Omit "polling day" from section 303 (5). Insert instead "election day". 9
[30] Section 305 Can an elector vote if his or her name is not on the roll of 10
electors? 11
Omit "electoral official". Insert instead "election official". 12
[31] Section 306 Nominations 13
Insert after section 306 (2): 14
(2A) A person who was or purported to be enrolled as an elector for a 15
ward or an area at the closing date for an election is not 16
disqualified from civic office, and in particular the validity of the 17
person's nomination for civic office is not affected, merely 18
because the person ceases or has ceased to be: 19
(a) a resident of, or 20
(b) an owner of rateable land in, or 21
(c) an occupier or ratepaying lessee of rateable land in, 22
the ward or area. This subsection does not apply in circumstances 23
prescribed by the regulations. 24
Note. The Dictionary in this Act defines the term closing date as the 25
date prescribed by the regulations for the closing of the roll of electors. 26
[32] Section 308 Candidate information sheets 27
Omit "electoral official" from section 308 (4). 28
Insert instead "election official". 29
[33] Section 308 (4) 30
Omit "displayed". Insert instead "available for inspection". 31
Page 7
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[34] Section 308 (5) and (6) 1
Insert after section 308 (4): 2
(5) As soon as practicable after a candidate is nominated, the 3
Electoral Commission must cause the information contained in 4
the candidate information sheet to be published on the Electoral 5
Commission's internet website. The regulations may prescribe or 6
limit the kinds of information that must be published. 7
(6) The council must cause the information referred to in subsection 8
(5) to be published on the council's internet website or provide a 9
link on its website to the relevant part of the Electoral 10
Commission's website. 11
[35] Section 309 Contested elections 12
Omit "the day when the poll at a contested election closes, the election fails in 13
respect of that civic office for the ward or area" from section 309 (3). 14
Insert instead "the close of poll at a contested election, the election fails in 15
respect of that ward or area". 16
[36] Section 309 (4) 17
Insert after section 309 (3): 18
(4) If a nominated candidate at a contested election dies after the 19
close of the poll but before the declaration of the poll: 20
(a) the electoral process is to continue as if the candidate had 21
not died, and 22
(b) the candidate, if declared elected, is taken to have died 23
immediately after the declaration and a casual vacancy is 24
taken to have occurred in the civic office concerned. 25
[37] Section 314 Penalty notice to be issued for failure to vote 26
Omit "polling day" from section 314 (6) (b). Insert instead "election day". 27
[38] Section 317 Validity of elections 28
Omit "or returning officer conducting the election" from section 317 (1) (c). 29
[39] Section 317 (1) (d) 30
Omit "polling day" wherever occurring. Insert instead "election day". 31
Page 8
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Amendments Schedule 1
[40] Section 318 Lapsed or void election 1
Omit "returning officer" from section 318 (1) (b). 2
Insert instead "Electoral Commission". 3
[41] Section 368 What is a quorum for a meeting? 4
Insert "actually" after "who". 5
[42] Section 368 6
Insert at the end of the section: 7
Note. The quorum consists of the majority of the total number of 8
councillors. In determining the total number of councillors, any casual 9
vacancies in councillor positions and any suspended councillors are not 10
to be counted. 11
[43] Section 744 Delegation of functions by the Minister 12
Insert at the end of the section: 13
(2) A delegate of the Minister may sub-delegate a delegated function 14
to another person to the extent the delegate is authorised to do so 15
by the Minister. 16
[44] Section 745 Delegation of functions by the Director-General 17
Insert at the end of the section: 18
(2) A delegate of the Director-General may sub-delegate a delegated 19
function to another person to the extent the delegate is authorised 20
to do so by the Director-General. 21
[45] Schedule 8 Savings, transitional and other provisions consequent on 22
the enactment of other Acts 23
Insert at the end of clause 1 (1): 24
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Act 2008 25
Page 9
Local Government Amendment (Elections) Bill 2008
Schedule 1 Amendments
[46] Dictionary 1
Insert in alphabetical order: 2
election assistant means a person appointed as an election 3
assistant under section 296. 4
election official means: 5
(a) a returning officer, or 6
(b) a polling place manager, or 7
(c) an election assistant. 8
election period for an election means the period starting with the 9
closing date, and ending with the declaration of the poll, for the 10
election. 11
polling place manager means a person appointed as a polling 12
place manager under section 296. 13
[47] Dictionary 14
Omit the definition of Electoral Commissioner. Insert instead: 15
Electoral Commission means the New South Wales Electoral 16
Commission constituted by section 21A of the Parliamentary 17
Electorates and Elections Act 1912. 18
Page 10
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