Electoral Commissioner Mick Sherry told parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee this morning that his team of 29 staff had not taken leave for “well over 12 months” due to the demands of running the state election in March, the Bragg by-election in July and the upcoming local government elections in November.

He said he would “strongly advocate” for council elections to be held in a different year to state elections and had already flagged the issue with Local Government Minister Geoff Brock.

“I believe I’m two months behind where I need to be in my preparation for the local government elections,” he told the committee.

“That causes a lot of stress, anxiety, and concern amongst our staff with all the work required.

“They’re getting tired, they’re exhausted and yet… tomorrow is the start of our nominations period for the council elections – that’s a full two-week period.”

The Electoral Commission expects to process nearly 1500 nominations from would-be councillors, with voting to close on November 10.

It comes as Sherry revealed his office was currently considering whether it would take further action on an “inaccurate and misleading” Labor Party advertisement during this year’s state election campaign.

The advertisement went to air on February 28 – several weeks before polling – and featured an ambulance officer, Ashleigh Frier, who claimed that “ramping is worse than ever”.

After the Liberal Party lodged a complaint, Sherry released a statement saying the ad was “inaccurate and misleading” because it contradicted SA Health data that showed ramping times had declined since their peak in October.

But Labor’s then secretary Reggie Martin claimed that at the time the ad went to air, there was no data available that showed the hours which had been lost to ramping in 2022.

Sherry told this morning’s committee hearing that he was currently considering whether to take further action on the matter.

“That particular matter is one of a number that are currently at this next stage of which we’re determining what if any further action should take place,” he said.

“I’m hoping to make a decision regarding what if any matters will be referred to prosecution in the next couple of weeks.”

Sherry said he could only refer matters for prosecution and it was up to the courts to decide what penalties should apply for proven breaches of electoral laws.

He said his office had received a “significant rise” in the number of complaints during the March state election, with up to 120 more complaints lodged this year compared to the 2018 poll.

“It’s my view that we didn’t have enough people in order to manage the complaints for 2022,” he said.

“That’s only because of the significant increase, which we just didn’t anticipate the large number of complaints coming in.”

But Sherry said he still believed it should be the responsibility of the Electoral Commissioner to manage complaints, despite noting he lacked the adequate resources to handle the volume received this year.

“My view is that it’s my job to administer the legislation provided to me by parliament, however… I do put forward the challenges of misleading advertising” he said.

“The main observation was the increased use of social media, in particular, Twitter, and the commentary, if you like, backwards and forwards in the lead up and during the election period.

“The Electoral Act is quite specific in what is electoral advertising and what is not and so we of course have to consider that as part of adjudicating any particular complaint. But, there is there is commentary about what is political commentary as opposed to what is a breach of the Electoral Act.”