By Ewen McRae
Local council elections will go ahead in October, despite uncertainty over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
While there have been calls for the elections to be delayed until 2021, as happened in New South Wales, the state government said it would be safe for the elections to proceed with postal voting.
Local Government Minister Shaun Leane said the advice from Victoria’s chief health officer, professor Brett Sutton, was that the elections could go ahead.
“The chief health officer has advised that October represents a period when risk is likely to be substantially lower than at present, and there are no compelling public health grounds for the elections to be delayed,” Mr Leane said.
“The chief health officer has also worked closely with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) and is satisfied that appropriate physical distancing, cleaning and hygiene and workforce planning have all been considered and integrated into the VEC’s COVIDSafe plans.
“The VEC have advised that election preparations are already well underway and that there are no administrative or procedural barriers to the election being held on October 24.”
The department of health has developed a set of guidelines for safe campaigning for candidates, including permitted campaign activities, safety for campaign teams,hygiene and physical distancing.
The government has also launched its candidate training course online, which all prospective candidates will need to complete.
However the Municipal Association of Victoria said it was disappointed its concerns about the elections had fallen on deaf ears. MAV president Coral Ross said delaying the election would have been a common sense move.
“We have been calling for a deferral of local government elections for months now due to the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on free and fair elections,” Cr Ross said.
“Minister Leane’s announcement today means that the elections will not have the quality and diversity of candidates that Victoria deserves.
“We know that not all councils were in favour of postponing council elections until 2021, but in the current environment and State of Disaster, it would have been a sensible and practical decision, for communities, candidates and councils.”
