June 20, 2013
A by-election to replace outgoing South Burnett councillor Cheryl Dalton is likely to be held in late September.
Cr Dalton, who represents Division 6, will be resigning from her post on July 17 after a 16-year career in local government.
Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today the Local Government Electoral Act stipulates a by-election must be held no later than 12 weeks after a councillor leaves office.
The Act also states that the election must be run by the Queensland Electoral Commission (QEC).
However because the Federal election will be held on September 14 and the QEC will be busy with this, the by-election would most likely be held after this.
He said Council was investigating the possibility of running the by-election as a postal ballot but it was up to the QEC to decide if this would be allowed.
“The problem is that previous Division 6 elections haven’t been held as postal ballots,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
“This means we have to make a case to the QEC about why a postal ballot should be allowed in this instance.”
Under the Act, the date of the election will be published in a local newspaper and intending candidates will then have a three-week window to lodge a nomination for the position.
But because the South Burnett uses a Divisional system, votes will be counted using optional preferential voting (in undivided councils like Gympie, a first-past-the-post counting system is used instead).
At the 2012 elections, Cr Dalton retained her Division 6 seat against sole rival Don Pinwill with 58.56 per cent of the vote.
However, the number of people who might nominate to replace her in a by-election is unknown.
“Sometimes by-elections seem to draw more interest than major elections,” Mayor Kratzmann said, recalling Wondai Shire Council’s 2004 elections when only eight people nominated for nine councillor positions.
“Wondai Council then had to call for nominations to fill the last vacant position, and 17 people put their hands up.”
Candidates for Division 6 do not have to live in the Division, so any South Burnett resident who meets the eligibility criteria could nominate.
However, the Mayor believed any candidate would need to have “some affinity” with the area to properly represent residents.
Division 6 is the largest of the South Burnett’s six Divisions and covers more than 2000 rural properties and 4000sq km.
“Candidates will need to understand that being a Councillor is virtually a seven-day-a-week job these days,” he said.
“Before amalgamation we had 37 councillors. Now we have seven to do the same work. It’s not a soft option.”
You can obtain more information on being a councillor by phoning the South Burnett Regional Council on (07) 4189-9100.
- Related article: Councillor Resigns After 16 Years
