We Get To Have Our Say

Congratulations to the City of Vincent Council, which this evening unanimously supported the Mayor's motion for a plebiscite on council amalgamations. There were changes to the form and wording of the question, to accommodate the Electoral Commission's concerns about having two different voting systems in the same election (the Council election being 'first past the post' and the plebiscite being proposed as preferential), but the integrity of the questions has been retained.

As Mayor Alannah MacTiernan said, in what was probably her last Council meeting before she resigns to take up her seat as Federal Member for Perth, the danger of trying to argue this point with the Commission was that we might well not get approval in time for the plebiscite to be at the same time as the Council election.

The plebiscite questions now look like this:

Question One: If the City of Vincent is to be abolished, what is your preferred option?

• All of the City of Vincent merges with the City of Perth; or
• City of Vincent is divided between the City of Perth and the City of Stirling [as per the State Government's proposal]

Question Two: Do you agree that the City of Vincent should be abolished? Yes/No

Whilst this plebiscite is not binding in the sense that the existing poll provision of the Local Government Act would be, it would be a great boost if it were able to achieve the requirement for a binding poll of 50% of electors voting.

With postal voting for local government elections, typically 30-35% of electors vote.

Let's get as many people voting as possible - even those who don't wish to vote in the Council election can still vote in the plebiscite - although I'd encourage them to vote in both.