❓ Hon Neil Thomson asks about the WAEC's analysis of the Local Government Act regarding backfilling vacancies and the resulting savings. The WAEC has not undertaken a formal analysis and cannot provide specific data on backfilled vacancies or savings at this time.
AnsweredQoN 2083Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the 2024-25 Budget Paper No 2 Volume 1, Note 1 on page 90, concerning local government elections, and I ask: (a) has the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) undertaken a formal analysis of the Local Government Act in relation to backfilling vacancies; (b) if yes to (a), what did this analysis determine; (c) in reference to (a), is a copy available; (d) how many extraordinary vacancies were backfilled, thereby not requiring extraordinary elections, in 2023-24; (e) is the backfilling of vacancies greater in country or metropolitan local governments; and (f) what has been the estimated saving to the WAEC by this legislative change in the previous two-year election cycle?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
17 September 2024
Responded by
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Electoral Affairs
Response time
9 days
(a) No.
(b) Not applicable.
(c) Not applicable.
(d) The Commission does not hold this information, as the Commission is only engaged where an election needs to be conducted. It is understood that the Department of Local Government, Sporting and Cultural Industries may retain this information.
(e) As above.
(f) The backfill provisions only apply to those Councillors elected in the 2023 general Local Government elections and onwards. Between 23 October 2023 and 28 August 2024, 18 extraordinary local government elections were conducted arising from vacancies which were not covered by the new backfill provisions (that is, they related to Councillors elected prior to 2023). As such it is not possible to determine any quantum of savings however the Commission anticipates that following the 2025 general local government elections, the need for local government extraordinary elections will be reduced as all councillors will fall within the scope of the backfill provisions.
(b) Not applicable.
(c) Not applicable.
(d) The Commission does not hold this information, as the Commission is only engaged where an election needs to be conducted. It is understood that the Department of Local Government, Sporting and Cultural Industries may retain this information.
(e) As above.
(f) The backfill provisions only apply to those Councillors elected in the 2023 general Local Government elections and onwards. Between 23 October 2023 and 28 August 2024, 18 extraordinary local government elections were conducted arising from vacancies which were not covered by the new backfill provisions (that is, they related to Councillors elected prior to 2023). As such it is not possible to determine any quantum of savings however the Commission anticipates that following the 2025 general local government elections, the need for local government extraordinary elections will be reduced as all councillors will fall within the scope of the backfill provisions.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.