We recently asked our community for feedback on proposed administrative updates to our Election Period Policy, which is within our Governance Rules. We received 20 submissions from the community, most of which supported all proposed updates to the policy.
On Monday 24 June 2024, Councillors adopted the updated policy at a Council meeting.
About the changes
The updates to the policy are administrative, as they:
- align with the Local Government Act 2020 (for example, 'community engagement' not 'public consultation')
- future-proof the content by removing specific dates and updating role titles.
We have also removed the restrictions on
approving permits under the Amenity Local Law for advertising signage during the election
period (also covered on our webpage, Promotionalactivities for elections and referendums). This update is in section
3.9 of the Election Period Policy.
Purpose of the policy
The purpose of an Election Period Policy is to ensure that Council business is conducted during councillor elections in a way that is fair and democratic for all candidates.
All councils are required to include an Election Period Policy in their Governance Rules. The Local Government Act sets the content of a policy. The policy must include guidelines to clarify what decisions Council can make during an election period and set rules about Council events, assets and publications.
