tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post4008661627830201540..comments2024-03-28T14:16:10.498+11:00Comments on Dr Kevin Bonham: Tas Councils: Is The Deputy Election System Dudding Us?Kevin Bonhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-44648509297761123672018-08-28T09:36:22.773+10:002018-08-28T09:36:22.773+10:00Yes I will have a candidate guide and also comment...Yes I will have a candidate guide and also commentary on the count. I'm not certain I'll have all the candidates up on the day nominations are released because of an overseas trip, but I should at least have them up by the time voting starts.Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-44775173819001128892018-08-28T08:08:52.644+10:002018-08-28T08:08:52.644+10:00Will you be doing an analysis of candidates for 20...Will you be doing an analysis of candidates for 2018 Hobart City Council elections? Would be very much appreciated!MBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02030850281026656500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-8328344106130190892018-07-17T15:54:57.382+10:002018-07-17T15:54:57.382+10:00I agree with you that people should be able to sta...I agree with you that people should be able to stand for Mayor and Deputy. I previously lost the election for Mayor by 3 votes, with the second highest mayoral vote, and even though I obtained the highest vote for Alderman was not able to be Deputy Mayor. As part of the Legislative Council TEC Inquiry the recommendation was made -<br />17. The Government pursue with the TEC, in consultation with Local Government, whether candidates should be given the opportunity to stand for both Mayor and Deputy Mayor.Rosemary Armitagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09544464636084472703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-50328657378311627582018-06-26T09:45:15.516+10:002018-06-26T09:45:15.516+10:00Thanks Helen for that very considered comment.
...Thanks Helen for that very considered comment. <br /><br />Regarding informal votes, the reason for the difference is that for Lord Mayor and Deputy anything with a single 1 will typically be formal; there is no requirement to number all the boxes. But for Councillors, the voters must number 1 to the number of vacancies without repeating or omitting any number in that sequence. When, as with Hobart, that means 1 to 12, the potential for mistakes (or for the voter thinking "I can only find 10, surely that's good enough", which it isn't) is very high.<br /><br />I think this level of votes being counted as informal as a result of inflexible legislation in the Local Government Act is scandalous and I put in a submission about it to the review of the LGA, but (seemingly as it had been decided to conduct a "targeted review" only) the issue was ignored. This was despite it being recommended for action by the Legislative Council committee into the Electoral Commission. (To make it clear the Electoral Commission are not to blame for the legislation being as it is.)<br /><br />Not only TEC but candidates as well need to work hard to convince voters to number at least the right number of councillor boxes with each number once and once only, because the government has failed to fix this problem. Unless that is the government fixes it now; I am sure there is still time.Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-57918328158518602762018-06-26T09:31:38.416+10:002018-06-26T09:31:38.416+10:00This comment has been removed by the author.Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-62910056191058093782018-06-26T06:30:08.198+10:002018-06-26T06:30:08.198+10:00As you say, Kevin, currently It is a choice candid...As you say, Kevin, currently It is a choice candidates make as to whether they’ll contest the position of mayor or deputy. Frustrating as that may seem, it is also a decision made on many grounds, both personal and political. <br />When I stood for and then was elected Deputy Lord Mayor, it was effectively my second term on Council. The incumbent Lord Mayor was Rob Valentine, whose popular vote was at least 2 quotas, and he wasn’t going anywhere soon. Standing for the deputy mayor position made sense: I wasn’t cocky enough to contest the mayoral position after a relatively short time on Council, I’d racked up experience in other leadership roles both on Council and in previous work and volunteer organisations which I thought may prove useful. The 2-I-C role would help me gain valuable experience on how the organisation works, which it did. During that time, I stepped in as Acting Lord Mayor, and also played the support role to the Lord Mayor at events or ambassadorial visits Rob couldn’t attend. <br />This year I’ll be running for the Deputy Lord Mayor again. I like the position, have the time and commitment, and even more experience. Bill Harvey will be running as the Greens’ mayoral candidate, and if successful, I believe we offer strong, credible leadership. <br />One could argue that the role of deputy takes a different skills set to that of mayor. There may be reason why a candidate would put their hand up for deputy over mayor. This shouldn’t be discounted, as it isn’t always about the top job. <br />Recent history suggests that in their roles as Lord Mayor and Deputy, Sue Hickey and Ron Christie worked diligently for the city, and their time commitment to those roles was very high. The teamwork was evident and the support and loyalty that Ron Christie as Deputy provided was rock solid. <br />There is more to leadership than just two working as a team, something for another discussion perhaps, and there are certainly different approaches available to bring the rest of the aldermen along, in what can be a very politically charged environment. <br />When Sue was elected to state parliament , the mechanism triggered was that if the mayor resigns within six months before a Council election, the deputy automatically takes the helm. Recent comments aside, in theory this is sound practice for such a relatively short time: Ald Christie knew the job backwards, and it avoided an expensive by election. <br />Sue’s departure and subsequently Ron’s move to the big chair also set in motion the appointment of the short-term Deputy Lord Mayor, a vote around the table by the remaining councillors. In theory, three and a half years into a four year term this appointment should be a sensible choice for the best candidate. Whilst I supported Bill Harvey over the current Deputy Lord Mayor - the vote was 5-6 - I wonder if the vote would’ve been different if aldermen had realised that the current deputy would be away overseas for over a month of that 6 month appointment?<br />You also make some interesting observations about the last election. There is another point about the votes. The fourth highest vote winner of the 2014 Hobart City Council election was....Informal. The number of informal votes (1418) was higher than a quota, and many more primary votes than 75% of those elected to Council. Tas Electoral Commission, we have a problem. Whilst the field was large, that’s a helluva a lot of people of the 51% of eligible voters who filled out their ballot papers, whose vote didn’t count. Interestingly, voters were more accurate when casting their vote for mayor and deputy.<br />More reason for people to ensure they are enrolled to vote, that they do cast their vote-and carefully-to elect a Lord Mayor, Deputy and Council they want to represent them!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03899850337629684113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-11581783152105282082018-06-25T23:24:53.618+10:002018-06-25T23:24:53.618+10:00Yes that's also an option and avoids one of th...Yes that's also an option and avoids one of the problems with my suggestion (which is that someone might want to express a view that someone is a good mayor but a bad deputy, or vice versa). The only complication I can see with it is that candidates would have to campaign for both positions and convince their supporters to vote for the same person on all the ballots. Voters might not realise one could vote for the same person for both positions.Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-40189530384531131272018-06-25T23:22:01.260+10:002018-06-25T23:22:01.260+10:00There is a risk of this. However, I don't thi...There is a risk of this. However, I don't think it matters greatly. The primary role of the Deputy Mayor is to fill in for the Mayor when the Mayor is unavailable. In other respects they are just another councillor in terms of the extent to which they have to work with the Mayor (or not). It's not that similar to a political party where the deputy leader is strongly expected to behave loyally and back up the leader. <br /><br />Also, it's possible that if Mayoral candidates who do well but fall short win the Deputy Mayor position, that consolation might actually help reduce the level of personal bitterness that often follows the defeat of an incumbent Mayor. Assuming they are able to win it, that is. Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-36639908403109619572018-06-25T20:54:45.467+10:002018-06-25T20:54:45.467+10:00Is there a greater risk that if two ambitious and ...Is there a greater risk that if two ambitious and popular people are elected to the positions, their rivalry may distract them from working effectively together? I’d imagine is Damon Thomas was deputy to Sue Hickey there would’ve plenty of fodder for the Mercury. abehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03978840479658006521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-90065251347398269892018-06-25T18:58:12.289+10:002018-06-25T18:58:12.289+10:00Thanks for this analysis, Kevin. I think your fir...Thanks for this analysis, Kevin. I think your first alternative is a good one it would offer better options for voters and increase the likelihood of a quality Deputy being elected.Di Ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17809329200462835263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-47985581867107545482018-06-25T13:57:33.051+10:002018-06-25T13:57:33.051+10:00Dare I suggest that it would be much simpler to ju...Dare I suggest that it would be much simpler to just keep the current system, and allow people to run for both Mayor and Deputy? Of course, the candidate elected Mayor would be excluded first from the deputy count. Are there any problems with this?mstjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10542158830887996937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-87758676614533192732018-06-25T12:38:58.659+10:002018-06-25T12:38:58.659+10:00Probably both. On balance I think it is beneficia...Probably both. On balance I think it is beneficial because:<br /><br />(i) It keeps incumbent Mayors on their toes since they might at any time face a high-profile challenger from outside the council system, so they can't assume they have the job for life once they have the measure of the rest of their council.<br /><br />(ii) It gives candidates trying to break into local government another strategic option for trying to lift their profile. That helps because some councils have been very difficult to get onto from the outside. <br /><br />There are risks associated with it. One is that you get a Mayor who doesn't understand that the Mayor is just another councillor when it comes to the voting, and who might be resented by the existing councillors for coming in over the top of them from outside. (There might be something like this in the Glamorgan-Spring Bay conflicts; I haven't looked that closely.) The other is that some council might elect some local celebrity as Mayor who basically has no idea what they are doing in local government (this hasn't happened yet.)<br /><br />As noted in the article I think there should be a deposit to discourage candidates from running for Mayor/Deputy (and for that matter councillor) if they're not serious candidates. Kevin Bonhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06845545257440242894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4052593945054595675.post-75412874248744505422018-06-23T20:25:42.639+10:002018-06-23T20:25:42.639+10:00What are your thoughts on the impact of absolute n...What are your thoughts on the impact of absolute novices to council systems having access to be elected to Mayor/Deputy Major? Do you think its an advantage to the community? Or do you think its creating a lot of 'noise'Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08290450290625656304noreply@blogger.com