Wollongong and Shellharbour Councils August 2008
Introduction
The Illawarra Greens believe that democracy has suffered in both Wollongong and Shellharbour City Councils because of their ward structures and election systems. They both have six wards with two councillors elected by residents of the ward.
Both Councils have this year been sacked by the NSW Government. Both Councils have been dominated by the ALP for many years, entrenching relationships which, in the case of Wollongong (and probably Shellharbour) have led to systemic corruption.
We believe that it is necessary, in the interests of introducing more healthy, robust, responsive and representative local government into the Illawarra, to change the voting system that both Wollongong and Shellharbour have used. With both Illawarra councils under administration, we have a unique opportunity for such reforms to be carried out with the least disruption.
Comparison of proportional to preferential voting systems
Under present legislation, where there are two councillors per ward, the preferential voting system is used. As is shown below, it is a system that is inherently anti-democratic.
Where there are more than two councillors per ward, the law requires that the proportional voting system be used.
To show just how unfair the preferential system of voting can be, the NSW Greens have analysed election results in two councils: Shellharbour (preferential) and Rockdale (proportional). The results show that the levels of discrepancy between voter intention and the candidate elected is four times greater in Shellharbour than in Rockdale. This means that in Rockdale, with five councillors per ward, the level of democracy is four times greater than in Shellharbour, with two councillors per ward.
Sylvia Hale, MLC, in her adjournment speech of 28th June 2007, describes the preferential system as one that “virtually ensures a winner-take-all outcome rather than a genuine reflection of the level of support for each candidate or group”.
“For example, in the 2004 local government election, in ward B in Shellharbour one group won both of the positions despite gaining only 29% of the primary vote. However, another group, which gained 34.5% of the primary vote, won no positions. In other words, 70% of people voted for someone other than the successful candidates.”
“In Shellharbour the disparity ranges from a low of 3.2 (in a ward where 53.2% of the primary vote delivered 50% of the elected positions) to a high of 71 (in the ward where 29% of the primary vote delivered 100% of the elected positions). The average disparity across all wards was 39.
“In Rockdale the disparity ranged from a low of 1.3 (where 32% of the primary vote delivered 33.3% of the elected positions) to a high of 18.3 (where 15% of the primary vote delivered 33.3% of the elected positions). The average disparity across all wards was 9.87, a quarter of the average disparity in Shellharbour.”
We are aware that the corruption uncovered in Wollongong City Council through the recent investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, in part has been made possible through the long-term dominance by one group within that Council. Furthermore, this dominance influences not just the elected Council itself, but also Council’s working groups, committees, and employee appointments.
Where this dominance happens over a long period with little chance of change, there is a high risk of entrenched relationships that allow corruption to thrive.
Need for more than two councillors per ward
The introduction of three councillors for each ward under present legislation would require a proportional representation voting system to be used at council elections.
Three councillors per ward will enable a truly representative range of councillors to be elected to each ward.
In Shellharbour, we support the recommendation of Commissioner Richard Colley in his report of 9th July 2008 (Report into Shellharbour) that the Council should be restructured to three wards of three councillors, plus a mayor.
Wards or no wards?
In a council like Wollongong, where the Council area stretches from Helensburgh in the north to Dapto in the south, it’s probably best to have at least three wards so that residents on the north, centre, and south are guaranteed representation on the Council. In Shellharbour, however, it might be better to have no wards at all. The relatively small land area and population makes wards unnecessary.
Wollongong restructure
Our proposal is to restructure Wollongong’s local government area into four wards with three councillors for each ward, plus a lord mayor.
There would still be 12 elected councillors and the boundaries of the Wollongong local government area would not change.
The four ward areas proposed are shown on the map here (not shown - ward 1 extends north to its existing boundaries). Each ward contains about 27,000 residents eligible to vote who together make up the total Wollongong LGA population of about 108,000 eligible voters.
The distributions of the new wards were chosen using the Australian Electoral Commission data (in their Virtual Tally Room web site for the 2007 federal election) showing the number of votes cast in each booth and the voter turnout as a percentage of the electoral rolls (which was 95.7%).
On this basis the proposed wards comprise:-
Ward 1
The Northern Suburbs as in the present Ward 1 but including most of Corrimal.
Suggested southern boundary Murray Road, Pioneer Road to Towradgi Road and Caldwell Avenue, that is, including the post codes 2517 and 2518 (except Towradgi) but not 2519.
Ward 2
The suburbs of Towradgi, Fernhill, Balgownie, Fairy Meadow, Mt Pleasant, Gwynneville, North Wollongong, West Wollongong, part of Wollongong, and Keiraville.
Suggested boundary in the west and south, Olive Bussell Drive then Mt Keira Road then Crown Street to Atchison Street then Burelli Street to the Showground.
Ward 3
The suburbs of Figtree, Mt Kembla, Kembla Heights, Cordeaux Heights, Farmborough Heights, Kembla Grange, Brownsville, Horsley, Wongawilli, Dapto, Koonawarra, Avondale and Yallah.
Suggested northern and eastern boundary Mt Keira Rd to the Southern Freeway then the Southern Freeway south to Mullet Creek and then Mullet Creek to Lake Illawarra.
Ward 4
The suburbs of South Wollongong, Mangerton, Coniston, Mount St Thomas, Port Kembla Steelworks, Cringila, Berkeley, Lake Heights, Warrawong, Port Kembla, Kemblawarra, Primbee and Windang.
We invite scrutiny of the proposal and welcome your comments. Please email your thoughts and comments to us at convenor@illawarra.greens.org.au or secretary@illawarra.greens.org.au