A move by SA One Nation MLC Sarah Game to make local government elections more transparent and avoid councils being stacked with Greens has passed through the state’s upper house. 

Ms. Game’s Local Government (Elections) Act 1999 went before the Legislative Council last week and was supported by both sides of the house. 

The bill aims to make it easier for the public to see who has been nominated for their local council ahead of elections. 

“As it stands under the SA local government system, the public cannot easily scrutinise nominations for council elections until after the candidate nomination period has closed,” Ms. Game told her parliamentary colleagues. 

“Allowing the community easier access to nominee information in turn allows for greater public scrutiny—and potentially, better-quality nominations. 

“If, for example, a community has seen the nomination decks stacked a particular way, it allows time for others to nominate and at least gives voting locals a chance to choose. 

“We have seen the steady rise of Greens candidates infiltrating councils and pushing woke policies that are out of touch with community sentiment. 

“Decisions are being made that are not representative of the majority of South Australians, be it banning nativity displays at Christmas time, removing traditional prayers from council meetings, or cancelling Australia Day citizenship ceremonies. 

“This needs to stop, and my bill will ensure that candidates can be scrutinised in a fair and timely manner.” 

South Australia’s current council candidature process creates the potential for nominations to be confidential. This means the public may be unable to scrutinise nominations until after the candidate nomination period has closed. 

Ms. Game’s amendment will require returning officers to display a copy of each nomination in the principal office of the council, to be done as soon as possible after the receipt of the nomination. 

The bill will require a copy of the nomination to be published on the internet and require the returning officer to provide a council with a list of all valid nominations, also to be published online. 

In addition to these transparency measures, Ms. Game’s said her bill would help avoid the “ridiculous and costly” fallout from the 2022 LGA elections, when eight SA councils were forced back to the polls, at taxpayer expense, after failing to receive enough councillor and/or mayoral nominations. 

“It is likely that if these shortfalls had been publicised before nominations closed, community members inclined to consider running would have thrown their hats into the ring,” Ms. Game said. 

The bill will now go to the House of Assembly.