Pilbara Shires welcome ward retention in local government reforms, but against publicly elected mayor

Sweeping reforms which would see the mayor become publicly elected and council positions slashed have had a mixed reception from Pilbara local governments. Local Government Minister John Carey last month announced the final changes that would be made under the reforms. Under the reforms, optional preferential voting will become mandatory for all local government elections, bringing the contests more in line with the system used for State and Federal elections. Mr Carey has written to all councils advising of the reforms and encouraging them to immediately begin preparations to fully enact the changes in time for the 2025 elections. Affected councils will have to provide Mr Carey with a transition plan. In the Pilbara, the Shire of Ashburton will change to directly elected president and consequential loss of one councillor, while the City of Karratha and Shire of East Pilbara will move to directly elected president and reduce council representation by more than one. Those that cannot — or will not — voluntarily agree on such a plan will be forced to “spill” their entire council ahead of the October 2023 local government election, at which point all of the required changes would be enacted in one hit. The introduction of optional preferential voting — which will allow ratepayers to either rank multiple candidates or vote for just one — would ensure more democratic outcomes, according to Mr Carey. However, City of Karratha Mayor Peter Long said he did not agree with the mayor being a publicly elected position. “I think there’s all sorts of issues, firstly, it means council and the mayor may not get on at all well,” he said. “Secondly, it promotes the mayor being a popular figure, and instead of being part of the council. “Existing mayors love it because they get very well known because they have a high public profile. . . So it’s easy to be re-elected, whereas if you’re a councillor, it’s harder to be re-elected because you don’t have the same public profile.” Wards have been retained for large councils, including those in the Pilbara, which Mr Carey said would prevent councillors being elected with “a few dozen votes”. “I genuinely believe that in large councils we should give ratepayers a clean line of sight about who leads local governments,” Mr Carey said. The retention of wards for the Pilbara local governments caused relief for the Shire of East Pilbara. Shire president Anthony Middleton said the local government advocated for, and welcomed, the retention of the ward system, as it provides smaller remote communities representation on local government councils. “Under the reforms, we could have between five and nine councillors, down from our 11,” he said. Mr Middleton said council was set to vote on September 30 on the approach it would take over the next 12 months ahead of the October 2023 local government election. Under the agenda item at the council meeting, it was recommended by Shire officers that the council undertake a voluntary process. It was also recommended the chief executive advise the Department of Local Government of council’s plan to conduct a half-council election at each of the October 2023 and October 2025 ordinary elections, with nine councillors and a ward system, subject to the outcome of a ward and representation review to be finalised by February 14. “We understand this will be a period of change for our Shire of East Pilbara council and our community, but we will work to facilitate the transition and retain fair representation for our rural and remote communities,” he said.