Advertisement

Council confidence up – but will voters turn out?

Oct 23, 2014
LGA president David O'Loughlin. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

LGA president David O'Loughlin. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Local councils have received a fillip just prior to elections via an independent survey conducted by Newspoll.

Established by Professor A J Brown at Queensland’s Griffith University, the survey has shown a further growth in public confidence in councils across Australia.

From a positive response of 57% in 2008, confidence rose to 58.1% in 2012 and the latest survey showed further growth to 58.9%.

While we are not in competition with state or federal governments, the states scored 54.5% and the Australian Government 52.5%.

Below these national results however, confidence in SA councils grew by 3% to 64.5%, well exceeding the national average.

No-one should get carried away with surveys but the trends are interesting.

A key question which arises is whether it could flag an increase in voter turnout in the current council elections.

Drawing such conclusions would be risky – indeed some data suggests these results could map precisely the opposite result.

Indeed when we look internationally where voluntary voting is the norm, one in three people voting in Council elections is a common level of turnout.

Data provided by Emeritus Professor Dean Jaensch suggests US council turnouts in the order of 29% in recent years and UK turnout of 36% this year. That’s interesting, when we consider the much broader roles of councils in those countries.

Post-election polling after the 2010 local government elections suggested that one of the highest motivators for people who did not vote to reverse their choice in future, would be if their council was not performing well.

That sounds like good news, suggesting they chose not to vote because they were happy with council performance.

It also suggests that to increase voter turnout we should trash the system – clearly not a viable choice.

Newspoll/Griffith University

Newspoll/Griffith University

Newspoll/Griffith University

Newspoll/Griffith University

Does voluntary voting allow negative campaigns to resonate more than positive campaigns? Does it lead to councils being dominated by conservatives rather than progressives?

These are questions which we can’t answer and in any event are probably impossible to measure.

Somehow I think it is too neat to suggest that 64.5% of the community won’t vote because they are happy with their council, while the remaining third are  concerned people who will vote.

So what can we expect in voter turnout for 2014 council elections?

With the percentage of contests up, a rise in eligible residential voters and a decline in property-based entitlements less likely to vote, we could see an increase in participation.

The increase in contests means more candidates canvassing, and with the Electoral Commission of SA, councils and the LGA putting more work into promotions, the message should be more visible.

Council elections are also run via post so electors don’t have to visit a polling booth – the ballot comes to your letterbox.

The final vote, of course, is determined by you the public – by what you choose to do with the pale blue envelope appearing in your letterbox this week.

So for all of you who are happy with the service your council provides, those who are unhappy and those with mixed views, the key message is that if you don’t vote, then you are passing up your chance to speak up.

Whether you want to see good efforts maintained or a change in direction, you should vote for those who you think will best represent what you want.

Apathy will simply hand the choice to other electors who do vote.

David O’Loughlin is the president of the Local Government Association and the mayor of Prospect. He stood as a Labor candidate in the 2014 state election.

 

Local News Matters
Advertisement
Copyright © 2024 InDaily.
All rights reserved.