Local Government Minister John Castrilli has advised he plans to amend legislation to return to the first-past-the-post voting system in time for the next Council elections in October.

WA Local Government Association President Cr Bill Mitchell welcomed the decision to abandon the PPV system which was overwhelmingly opposed by Local Government.

Introduced by the previous State Government, the comparatively complex PPV system was used for the 2007 Council elections.

At the time, WALGA ran a television and print campaign opposing the introduction of PPV with about 100 WA Councils passing motions objecting to the new system, including more than 40 Councils who passed votes of no confidence in the then Minister.

“The decision to abandon proportional preferential voting and return to first-past-the-post elections is a victory for the persistence of the Local Government sector,” Cr Mitchell said.

“Under the first-past-the-post system candidates need only to win the support of their local community whereas under the PPV system there is a greater focus on running mates and back room deals that mostly suit the organised, larger political parties.”

Cr Mitchell said he hoped the commitment shown by the Minister to improving Council elections would also lead to changes to the current postal voting requirements.

Currently the WA Electoral Commission has a monopoly on postal voting but WALGA believes it should be opened to competition, including allowing Local Governments to manage the process.

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