The three South Australian mayors ousted because they did not submit forms disclosing donations to their election campaigns have been identified, as the cost of holding by-elections in 36 councils — most of them outside of Adelaide — is set to mount.
Key points:
- The mayors of Prospect, Tumby Bay and Whyalla have lost their positions but can appeal
- Tumby Bay residents will go to the polls for the third time in half a year
- Ratepayers will have to bear the costs of new elections
The mayors who have lost their positions for failing to return their disclosure returns by the Wednesday deadline are Prospect's Matt Larwood, Tumby Bay's Geoff Churchett and Whyalla's Phill Stone.
Another 42 councillors are also affected, most of them in regional areas.
They will lose their positions for failing to lodge a form about any gifts they received during their election campaigns with the Electoral Commission of South Australia, unless they win an appeal in the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT).
Local Government Minister Geoff Brock revealed the situation in state parliament on Thursday.
Council election candidates previously had to submit their forms disclosing gifts over $500 to the council's chief executive, however, this was changed to the Electoral Commission in 2021 at the request of the Local Government Association.
High cost for small councils
With the position of Tumby Bay mayor now vacant, the small council on the Eyre Peninsula may have to open election nominations for the third time in half a year.
Only two people nominated for the six councillor positions on the council at the state-wide local government elections held in November, while the outgoing mayor — Mr Churchett — was elected unopposed.
Nine more people have nominated for the remaining four councillor positions in a supplementary election being held in March.
Another by-election will now be held for the mayoral position if more than one person nominates.
The legislation states that a failure to lodge the form automatically results in a person losing office.
District Council of Tumby Bay chief executive Rebecca Hayes said the mayor had submitted his forms but was confused about the due date and it was the community that suffered.
She said the new systems might work well for those in Adelaide but were not suitable for councils in regional and rural areas of the state.
"We've still got a pretty big digital divide out here," Ms Hayes said.
"This is just a failure in process — it's a new system, it wasn't robust enough, there wasn't enough advice or training around it."
She estimated the cost of the supplementary election at up to $15,000 — a cost that will be borne by ratepayers.
The mayor plans to put in an application with SACAT to be reappointed.
In Whyalla, by-elections may have to be held for not just the mayoral position but also two councillor positions.
An acting mayor will be chosen on Monday.
Mr Stone beat fellow councillor Tom Antonio in the November election.
In Prospect, Mr Larwood beat former Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson in a five-way contest after the resignation of long-serving mayor David O'Loughlin.
Voting is not compulsory in council elections in South Australia.Subheading
Call for investigation into process
The Electoral Commission said it reminded the mayors, councillors and unsuccessful candidates 12 times about their disclosure obligations.
Several elected members complained on Friday that the final letter they received came on the day of the deadline and that the website to submit forms was difficult to use and regularly crashed.
"There are problems in the system," Local Government Association of South Australia president and Kimba Mayor Dean Johnson said today.
"It's a really complicated situation and we need a full investigation."
Electoral Commissioner Mick Sherry denied the disclosure process needed to change.
"Despite these extensive efforts, it's unfortunate that we're in this predicament now," he said.
"Moving forward, things that we might consider changing — we might consider bringing a whole lot of people on to hold the hands of these candidates to constantly remind them of their obligation to avoid this potential situation."
Monday is the deadline for appeal applications to SACAT.
Mr Johnson said he hoped a degree of flexibility would be applied.
"The legislation is quite prescriptive so it will be interesting to see how SACAT treat this," he said.