Documents obtained by the ABC have laid bare the chaos of planning for the 2025 WA election across one of the state’s biggest seats, as a wider inquiry into what went so wrong on polling day remains sealed.
The problems voters across the state experienced — including reports of long queues and some places running out of ballot papers — were so serious the government ordered a special inquiry into what went wrong.
Part of the probe’s remit was to look at the WA Electoral Commission’s (WAEC) decision to outsource its temporary election workforce to a labour hire company, PERSOLKELLY.
The ABC can reveal the WA Electoral Commission was warned early about staffing issues in the seat of Roe. (ABC News: Andrew O’Connor )
The ABC can now reveal the commission had been warned about those issues as early as four months prior to polling day.
PERSOLKELLY previously said it was responsible only for recruiting and onboarding staff, and that 100 per cent of polling places it was responsible for were open on the day.
Staffing shortage days out
As election day loomed in the vast electorate of Roe, which stretches from just east of Collie and just north of Albany all the way east beyond Esperance, the situation was worrying staff.
In early February, Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy publicly said he was still looking for 50 to 60 staff in Roe.
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But late on the Monday before the election, a senior official wrote directly to him, bypassing their chain of command, saying their concerns had not been taken seriously.
“Without adequate, minimum staffing, the WAEC runs the risk of being unable to safely conduct an election in the District of Roe (and likely other districts experiencing similar issues),” they wrote in an email released to the ABC under Freedom of Information laws.
At that stage, they said, less than a quarter of their polling places were fully staffed.
“I raised the risk of staffing and what contingencies the commission had in place in December when … we had 13 applications for 80+ senior positions,” they said.
“Roe was not (and is not) alone in this shortage.”
WA Nationals leader Shane Love has been one of the most vocal critics of the electoral commission. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The opposition’s spokesperson for electoral affairs said he had heard similar reports.
“I think that what we’ve seen there is one returning officer voicing concerns that I think many others also held,” Shane Love said.
Loss of local experience
A senior WAEC worker told the ABC a major problem was higher-ups not listening to the concerns of returning officers — who are responsible for elections in each electorate.
The person, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of breaching their contract, said they were also concerned about PERSOLKELLY’s processes resulting in personal connections being lost.
Do you know more about this story? Contact Keane Bourke.
“The level of experience we lost was devastating,” they said.
“People who had zero electoral skill were coming onboard [with] no oversight on whether they did their training.”
Roe MP, Peter Rundle, said he had heard of previous staff having issues signing up with PERSOLKELLY in the lead-up to the election.
Peter Rundle is the deputy leader of the Nationals WA and the member for Roe. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“From my perspective, the loss of experience was probably the biggest factor,” he said.
“We also heard stories of people at the count … with very little experience at all.
“In actual fact, some of our scrutineers had a lot more experience than the people that were counting votes.”
Commissioner acknowledged issues
In their email, the election worker said they had brought the issue up “at least once per week” but was told: “[PERSOLKELLY] have promised us staff. We have to see if they can fulfil.”
“If this dismissive approach is the official line of the commission, I sadly believe it has lost its way,” they wrote.
The following day, Commissioner Kennedy replied saying he understood PERSOLKELLY had been finalising appointments with “one to two vacancies still being worked on”.
Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy is currently on leave until the end of the year. (ABC News: Julian Robins)
He acknowledged there had been some “pushback” from applicants about having to use an electronic application and onboarding system but said that would have been similar even if the WAEC ran its own staffing.
“I fear that staffing regional districts is becoming more difficult every election as population shrinks in those districts and the traditional cohort of temporary staff we relied on ages and ceases to work for us,” he added.
A PERSOLKELLY spokesperson said: “Staff involved in previous elections were contacted by the WAEC and encouraged to reapply.”
The struggle to staff booths
After further discussion, the worker told the commissioner if minimum staffing levels were not met they would instruct staff to close polling booths.
That prompted a terse reply from the commissioner, now two days out from the poll.
“Returning Officers do not have legislative authority to close a polling place,” he wrote.
The trove of documents released to the ABC also showed there had been warning signs of issues elsewhere. (ABC News: Julian Robins)
“It is vitally important that we work together at this time so as to not put the election itself at risk.”
The reply did little to allay the worker’s concerns.
“We have been pulling [presiding officers] from the proverbial ledge for weeks now, wanting to quit due to uncertainty,” the worker wrote before quoting from the state’s Work Health and Safety Act.
“It is unsafe to operate a place of business without minimum staffing.
Problem-plagued WA Electoral Commission lacking executive staff
“I am personally liable for any contravention of the act and I cannot in good faith compel people to work when it is not safe.
“I just need reassurances on contingencies in the likely event of last minute staff no-shows etc.”
When Deputy Commissioner Courtney Barron followed up that evening, she said one polling location would be closed, offered a dedicated contact person at a higher level and said hard copy forms would be provided if staff needed to be hired on election day.
PERSOLKELLY did not respond when asked if any staff were hired on the day, or if those staff completed the onboarding training required by the commission before starting work.
WAEC defers response to inquiry
In the end, Mr Rundle comfortably won the seat on first preferences with 53.3 per cent of the vote.
“As it turned out, in general terms … the returning officer actually did a reasonably good job despite the challenges that were put in front of him by the Electoral Commission,” he said.
WAEC results show about 86 per cent of Roe electors cast ballots — in line with the 2021 election.
PERSOLKELLY says it was able to operate all 682 of the booths that it was required to provide support staff for. (ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)
A week after the election, PERSOLKELLY said: “100 per cent of the 682 polling locations that required PERSOLKELLY Australia support staff were operational. The WAEC determines all the staffing requirements.”
The WAEC declined to answer questions about issues in Roe and the loss of experienced staff, saying the “resourcing, planning and management of polling places” formed part of the special inquiry.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further until the report is released,” a spokesperson said.
Wider issues emerge
The trove of documents released to the ABC also showed there had been warning signs of potential issues elsewhere.
In mid-February, an unnamed official in the Department of Premier and Cabinet emailed Ms Barron, referring to previously raised concerns around “challenges with pre-polling centres and staff availability in the Kimberley/Pilbara”, offering to help.
‘Not a banana republic’: Inquiry to examine ‘major slip’ in WA election handling
“Numbers have actually started to improve for us,” Ms Barron replied.
By the day after the election, the scale of issues was seemingly becoming apparent.
“From Facebook, emails and calls yesterday seems queues and issues weren’t confined to just a few areas,” one staffer wrote to their director.
Later in the day, the director replied asking the staffer to advise those taking calls from the public to record details of people raising issues to work out “the location and extent of any issues”.
“I will also be reminding the supervisors to be a bit careful in the language they use given we are very much under the spotlight,”
the staffer replied.
Commissioner Kennedy is currently on leave until the end of the year.
Deputy Commissioner Barron is also on leave but is not expected to return.
The special inquiry report was completed in late June, but the premier told parliament it had to be cleared by government lawyers before being publicly released.
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