- Fivex Commercial Property Media
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Dear Alan,
I hope you are well.
I am the Deputy-Chairman of the Double Bay Chamber of Commerce which represents the business community of Double Bay Commercial Centre.
I write to you because I am outraged that the Double Bay Business community has been completely disenfranchised for the upcoming by-election in Woollahra Municipal Council for the Double Bay ward.
For as far back as anyone can remember, there has always been a group of business people who voted as non-resident ratepayers at Woollahra Council elections and unfortunately the upcoming by-election will be the first time in living memory not a single business person in Double Bay has successfully enrolled to vote.
Unfortunately, for a considerable period of time, the business community throughout NSW and in the City of Sydney have effectively been disenfranchised in local government elections, because non-resident ratepayers, unlike resident ratepayers must enrol to vote before every local government election as a result of s299 of the Local Government Act.
s299 of the Local Government Act requires the electoral roll for non-resident ratepayers to be purged after every election. Of course, the roll of resident ratepayers is not purged after every election.
The practical effect of this Law means that only a handful of non-resident voters “opt-in” to enrol to vote in Local Government elections and in the case of Double Bay not a single business has successfully enrolled to vote for the upcoming Woollahra Council by-election.
I am sure you would agree with me, that this is a perverse outcome that must be rectified.
Businesses pay substantial Council Rates and it is their customers that enables Councils across NSW to earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year in parking meter revenue and parking fines. The Law must be changed to ensure “no taxation without representation”.
On 31 December 2013 Councillor Elena Kirillova resigned from Woollahra Council creating the need for a by-election in Woollahra Council’s Double Bay ward.
As a result of s292 of the Local Government Act, a by-election must be held no later than 3 months after the vacancy occurs. The NSW Electoral Commission has set a date of Saturday 15 March for the Woollahra Council by-election, consistent with the legislative requirements.
The non-resident electoral roll closed on 3 February 2014, some 5 weeks after Councillor Kirillova’s resignation, during the busy Christmas period. Is it any wonder that no business enrolled to vote in time?
It is scandalous that as a result of the timing of Clr Kirillova’s resignation and the legal requirement to purge the non-residential electoral roll after each election that the Double Bay business community has been completely disenfranchised for the upcoming Double Bay Ward By-election.
The Local Government Acts Taskforce released a report on 16 October 2013 “A New Local Government Act for New South Wales and Review of the City of Sydney Act 1988” which reviewed the ability of non-resident ratepayers to vote in Local Government elections and City of Sydney elections.
Recommendations 4.1(4) – (10) effectively recommend that non-resident ratepayers be automatically enrolled, that the electoral roll no longer be purged after each election and that a postal voting form be automatically issued to all non-resident voters.
While the suggested recommendations would fully and fairly enfranchise business ratepayers in local government elections, unfortunately the recommendations in the report only relate to the City of Sydney Act and do not properly address what should occur in Local Government elections in general. As a matter of principle, there should be no difference between a non-resident ratepayer in the City of Sydney Council or any other Local Government Area in NSW.
The Double Bay Chamber of Commerce have written to the Minister for Local Government, calling on the NSW Government to implement recommendations 4.1(4) – (10) not only for the City of Sydney Act, but also for the entire Local Government Act so that the business community is never again disenfranchised at any Local Government election or by-election in NSW.
This gross injustice needs to be fixed!
Best regards,
Lesli Berger