New Local Government Election Regulations

The State Government has followed the recent amendments to the Local Government (Elections) Act 1999 (SA) (the Act) with new regulations that took effect on 27 August 2010. 

Most importantly, the regulations exclude some classes of council decisions from the list of ‘designated decisions’ for the purposes of the new caretaker provisions.  They also deal with candidate election profiles.  Full details of the regulations are set out below.

This Briefly also reviews the first decision of the Remuneration Tribunal fixing the rates of Council Members’ allowances.

The Regulations

The Local Government (Elections) Regulations 2010 (the Regulations) appeared in last Thursday’s Gazette.  The two most significant are examined in this Briefly – the full text of the Regulations is available at the South Australian Government’s legislation website.

Designated Decisions

Designated decisions are those decisions councils cannot validly make during the caretaker period.

As most councils prepare to enter caretaker mode for the first time on 21 September 2010, amendments to the Regulations increase the number of exceptions to the ‘designated decisions’ prohibitions imposed by Section 91A of the Act. 

Councils can make a decision during the caretaker period if the decision:

• relates to the carrying out of certain works in response to an emergency or disaster; or
• is a decision required to be made under a funding agreement (or possible future funding agreement) with the Commonwealth or State Governments; or
• relates to the employment of an individual council employee (other than the chief executive officer), or forms part of budgeted enterprise bargaining negotiations; or
• relates to a pre-approved Community Wastewater Management System; or
• is to suspend a chief executive officer for serious and wilful misconduct.

The inclusion of these further exceptions to the definition of a designated decision, in addition to those already contained in Section 91A(8) of the Act, will ensure that the ongoing operations of councils are not unnecessarily curtailed during the caretaker period.

Candidate profiles

Because of the recent amendments to the Act, this election will be the first local government election where the Local Government Association must publish all candidate profiles, and any candidate electoral statements, on the internet (Section 19A of the Act).
The new Regulations provide that all candidate profiles must contain the contact details of the candidate, being an address (which cannot be a post office box), an email address, or telephone number.  A signed statement declaring that the candidate is responsible for the content of the profile must also accompany the profile.

Council Members Allowances

On 25 August 2010, the Remuneration Tribunal released its first Council Members’ Allowances Determination (the Determination).

The Determination, which will take effect following the first ordinary meeting of council held after the conclusion of the November 2010 local government elections, determines that all councils will be classified into one of five groups, and allowances set in accordance with the relevant group.

Allowances for Councillors have been set as follows:

Principal Members’ Allowances are set at four times that of a Councillor of that council, and Deputy Mayors/ Deputy Chairpersons and presiding members of standing committees have an allowance set at one and a quarter (1.25) times that of a Councillor of that council.

In making the Determination the Tribunal took into account submissions received from 65 parties, including 25 from councils, as well as independent advice received from State Government departments and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  The Tribunal considered submissions relating to the size, population and revenue of councils, as well as economic, social, demographic and regional factors relevant to individual councils.  The Tribunal also had regard to the fact that an allowance payable is not a salary, considered that the allowance must reflect the nature of the members’ office, and referred to interstate allowances.

The Tribunal determined that a minimum allowance of $5,000 per annum should be payable to all council members in recognition of their legislative duties.  After having regard to the complexities of different councils, and the varying levels of accountability and responsibility required of council members with different numbers of electors, the Tribunal set four additional allowance groups.

Members of non-metropolitan councils who are required to travel either 50 kms or more or 100 kms or more via the most direct route, one way, from their residence to the principal office of the council are also entitled to a $500 per annum or $1,000 per annum travel time payment respectively.  This payment is in addition to any mileage reimbursement they may be entitled to claim from the council.

A copy of the Determination, which includes the relevant council groupings, is available on the Tribunal’s website.

For further information on any of the material contained in this Briefly please contact Sathish Dasan on 8210 1253 or by email sdasan@normans.com.au or Kate Oliver on 8210 1226 or by email koliver@normans.com.au

If you find the information in this article useful, please feel free to forward it to someone at your council.

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