{"id":36643,"date":"2013-06-20T20:59:26","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T10:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=36643"},"modified":"2013-06-21T16:24:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T06:24:00","slug":"by-election-likely-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/06\/20\/by-election-likely-in-september\/","title":{"rendered":"By-Election Likely In September"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cheryl<\/a>
Cr Cheryl Dalton (Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 20, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

A by-election to replace outgoing South Burnett councillor Cheryl Dalton is likely to be held in late September.<\/p>\n

Cr Dalton, who represents Division 6, will be resigning from her post on July 17 after a 16-year career in local government.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Act also states that the election must be run by the Queensland Electoral Commission (QEC).<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The problem is that previous Division 6 elections haven’t been held as postal ballots,” Mayor Kratzmann said.<\/p>\n

“This means we have to make a case to the QEC about why a postal ballot should be allowed in this instance.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

At the 2012 elections, Cr Dalton retained her Division 6 seat against sole rival Don Pinwill with 58.56 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n

However, the number of people who might nominate to replace her in a by-election is unknown.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“Wondai Council then had to call for nominations to fill the last vacant position, and 17 people put their hands up.”<\/p>\n

Candidates for Division 6 do not have to live in the Division, so any South Burnett resident who meets the eligibility criteria could nominate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the Mayor believed any candidate would need to have “some affinity” with the area to properly represent residents.<\/p>\n

Division 6 is the largest of the South Burnett’s six Divisions and covers more than 2000 rural properties and 4000sq km.<\/p>\n

“Candidates will need to understand that being a Councillor is virtually a seven-day-a-week job these days,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Before amalgamation we had 37 councillors. Now we have seven to do the same work. It’s not a soft option.”<\/p>\n

You can obtain more information on being a councillor by phoning the South Burnett Regional Council on (07) 4189-9100. <\/p>\n