{"id":313944,"date":"2025-10-18T17:31:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/313944\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T17:31:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T17:31:24","slug":"minister-flags-compulsory-voting-in-local-government-elections-4-year-terms-amid-low-voter-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/313944\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister flags compulsory voting in local government elections, 4-year terms amid low voter turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Voting in council elections could become mandatory in Western Australia if the turnout for this weekend’s poll continues to plummet, the local government minister has warned.<\/p>\n

Western Australians are being asked to vote in their third election this year, following state and federal polls, for the optional local government election.<\/p>\n

Turnout has always been low for council elections which are largely conducted by post.<\/p>\n

But Ms Beazley is worried even less people will bother voting this year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hannah Beazley says she’s worried about low voter turnout for the local government elections. (ABC News: Kenith Png)<\/p>\n

She told the ABC if that happens she would consider reforms to make voting compulsory and introduce full four-year terms.<\/p>\n

“It is the level of government that’s closest to the people. A lot of what the community sees in their everyday life and the services that they get \u2026 are provided by council,” Ms Beazley said.<\/p>\n

“They’re a really important level of government and it’s really important that the community is involved.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ms Beazley blamed the predicted lull in participation on “voter fatigue”, but acknowledged widely-reported council dysfunction and chaos in recent months could play a part.<\/p>\n

Reforms flagged<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley said voter turnout was about 30 to 32 per cent on average over the past few council elections.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Voter turnout has averaged about 30 per cent for local government elections in recent years. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)<\/p>\n

But looking at figures this week, she said she was “concerned” today’s poll would not reach that mark.<\/p>\n

“There is absolutely potential for that [lower participation rate],” Ms Beazley said.<\/p>\n

“This is the third time we’re asking Western Australians to vote this year and so I think that is a large part of it.”<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley said she would like to consult on introducing four-year full spill elections to replace the current two-year half spill model to address voter fatigue and “enliven the process”.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

It’s the third time people in WA have been asked to vote in government elections this year. (ABC News: Andrew O’Connor)<\/p>\n

But after taking a softer line than Premier Roger Cook in recent months, the minister has changed her tune on compulsory voting.<\/p>\n

“I’m absolutely looking at [compulsory voting] as an option and I’ve had many conversations with the premier about this,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.Bungles identified ahead of WA local government election<\/a><\/p>\n

Incorrect ballot papers were among several bungles identified with postal voting ahead of next month’s WA local government elections.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think they can go hand in glove. I don’t think the community would be as receptive to compulsory voting if they had to do it every two years.<\/p>\n

“Certainly I’m getting a lot of positive feedback around compulsory voting. I’m really keen to have that conversation and also have it in a much more structured way with formal consultation.”<\/p>\n

Premier Roger Cook had flagged support for the move<\/a> in recent months.<\/p>\n

“I think we need to step forward carefully on this \u2026 but I think everyone agrees that we now need more reform in that sector,” Mr Cook said in September.<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley has flagged she would like to enter into “formal consultation” on both ideas with the sector by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Dysfunction across the sector<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley acknowledged the dysfunction that had ensued at several local councils this year may have also discouraged voters.<\/p>\n

“I’ll also be looking at it as to the level of dysfunction that we’ve seen in the sector. Did that ultimately end up being a turn-off?” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Lots<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley says dysfunction across the sector may have discouraged people from voting. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)<\/p>\n

On Monday she flew to WA’s Goldfields to tell the Shire of Coolgardie it would not be suspended over mismanagement allegations<\/a>, but will be watched closely over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

“This is not a get out of jail free card, I will be continuing to monitor them \u2014 no future decision is on or off the table,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n

WA minister slams ‘extremist’ council candidates<\/a><\/p>\n

The local government minister condemns the emergence of “extremist” candidates nominating for the state’s forthcoming council elections.<\/p>\n

In September she installed three commissioners to run the Town of Port Hedland<\/a> after the council collapsed amid infighting and dysfunction.<\/p>\n

And in July her hand was forced in the western suburbs after councillors quit en-masse leaving the council without a quorum and unable to function<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was the kind of dysfunction the minister said she would like to stamp out with the role of the Local Government Inspector when it commences operations<\/a> from next year to avoid further issues.<\/p>\n

What the numbers say<\/p>\n

The WA Electoral Commission (WAEC) is also concerned about voter turnout.<\/p>\n

According to the WAEC, as of Thursday morning the participation rate was sitting at about 26 per cent.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Dennis O’Reily says he’d like to see an increase in voter turnout this weekend. (ABC News: Rebecca Trigger)<\/p>\n

“It’s probably about a couple [of percentage points] under what it was at the same time two years ago,” said Acting Electoral Commissioner Dennis O’Reilly.<\/p>\n

“In the push to the end of the election at 6pm on Saturday we’d certainly like to see more people putting their votes in.<\/p>\n

“When we did our forecast we were looking at around a 34 per cent return rate so we’re certainly under that from where we are at the moment.”<\/p>\n

Ms Beazley said lower voter participation this election would work as “a proof point to community” as to why changes were needed.<\/p>\n

“I am very supportive of further reform in the sector and I’m certainly very supportive of every way that we can help the community participate in their local council,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Kirrilee<\/p>\n

Kirrilee Warr says reaction to the minister’s proposal has been mixed. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n

Mixed response<\/p>\n

Shadow local government minister Kirrilee Warr said not all within the sector would welcome a change in voting rules.<\/p>\n

“With the local governments I have been speaking to, it has been mixed in anecdotal feedback,” she said.<\/p>\n

WA Local Government Association president Karen Chappel said she believed most within the sector were “comfortable” with the current arrangements \u2014 “what they’ve got currently, with every two years [up to] 50 per cent of the council changing … and voluntary voting, is what they support”.<\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/p>\n

Karen Chappel said most within the local government sector were comfortable with the current election voting rules. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)<\/p>\n

Western Australia and South Australia are currently the only Australian jurisdictions where voting is not mandatory in council elections.<\/p>\n

Penalties and fines for failing to vote vary across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

In the Australian Capital Territory residents vote every four years for members of the ACT Legislative Assembly, which is the house responsible for both territory and local matters.<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voting in council elections could become mandatory in Western Australia if the turnout for this weekend’s poll continues…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":313945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,158054,158052,158053,158051,50,8631,8632,14362,14361],"class_list":{"0":"post-313944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-election-results","10":"tag-local-council","11":"tag-local-government-election-voting","12":"tag-local-government-elections","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-perth-news","15":"tag-wa-news","16":"tag-wa-politics","17":"tag-wa-pols"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115396365005687396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}