By ALENA HIGGINS
IF YOU were hoping to avoid a return to the polls for the 2016 quadrennial local government elections, you may be sorely disappointed.
Postal voting for whole areas, which has been the practice of Stanthorpe and Warwick councils since at least 2000, has been effectively abolished for next year’s civic election unless council can show that exceptional circumstances exist.
In a letter to SDRC dated 22 December, Local Government Minister David Crisafulli stated he was “unlikely to approve an application to conduct the 2016 elections by way of postal vote for the whole or part of the area” due to transparency concerns.
“It is my personal view that attendance voting strengthens the integrity and transparency of the democratic process and has the additional advantage of delivering social benefits to the community,” the minister wrote.
“Accordingly, I believe local government elections should be conducted by attendance ballots wherever possible.”
But the news has frustrated council, which contends it is a retrograde move.
“Council is against the removal of postal voting in that it provides an easier option for the elderly and aged to access voting, removes the ridiculous waste of promotional material at polling booths and the opportunity to operate more cheaply,” SDRC mayor Peter Blundell said.
“One of the pros is that if councils run local government elections themselves there is control and accuracy managed successfully at a local level.
“Postal voting also allows a more considered decision for a local government election where people are voting on a personal basis and not on a political party system.”
The mayor said he was confident the blunder of the last local government election was a one-off.
“At the last local government election there were complaints that voters didn’t receive their ballots but I believe this was an error that would not be repeated,” he said.
Council vowed at its January general meeting to make a “strong objection” against the proposal to the Local Government Minister, the Local Government Association of Queensland and Southern Downs MP Lawrence Springborg.
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