Public Notice

On Thursday 6 Feb, SA Parliament Local Government Minister Geoff Brock MP issued a media release stating that 45 council members across SA did not lodge their campaign returns which is set out in the Local Government Elections Legislation.

The Electoral Commission South Australia (ECSA) have notified CEO, Nigel Morris of two Alexandrina Council Members, Michael Scott and Peter Oliver are amongst the 45 council members, and that does unfortunately mean they can lose their position.

It is up to each affect Council Member to lodge an application with the tribunal to seek reinstalment, and they will need to demonstrate the circumstances that prevented them from reporting on time.

CEO Nigel Morris Said, “Both Michael and Peter were devastated by the news and having had issues lodging their returns (with no donations to declare) have applied to SA Civil and Administrative Tribunal legal (SACAT) for reinstatement.  

Should their application be declined it is my understanding that the vacancy will be attempted to be filled under the ‘count back’ method under the LG (Elections) Act.  We now await the results of SACAT before determining next steps.

Council members affected will pause participation of Council Meetings or decision making of Council. The difficult part for our councils is that until a determination is made by any appeal, elected members who are affected now return to being members of the public – rather than elected officials

The Local Government Association of South Australia are committed to working with the Minister for Local Government and the Electoral Commission on ways to improve the election process, and that includes how to best avoid instances like this from happening in the future.

It is far from ideal, and I think we need to hear the options available to prevent occurrences in the future – from what we know, something like this hasn’t occurred on this scale before”.