16-40 – 2016 local government elections – survey of candidates and councillors
What’s new or changing
- Councils are required to complete a survey of candidates and councillors for the 2016 local government elections.
What this will mean for your council
- Councils are required to respond to this information request under section 429 of the Local Government Act 1993.
- Councils can use the Statistical Information Sheets that candidates completed prior to the elections to complete the survey. Councils are required to retain these sheets under clause 391(6) of the Local Government (General) Regulation 2005.
Key points
- The Office of Local Government has been conducting this survey since the 1987 elections. The report on survey findings from the 2012 elections, the NSW Councillor and Candidate Report 2012, is available on OLG’s website at www.olg.nsw.gov.au .
- Information provided by councils in response to the survey will help OLG and local communities monitor community representation on councils. The information will also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of OLG’s Candidate Diversity Strategy which aimed to increase the diversity of candidates standing at the 2016 elections (see Circular 16-23).
- Two new questions have been added to the 2016 survey about whether a person is a property developer or a close associate of a property developer.
- Information provided by councils is subject to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009. Information collected in response to the survey will be held by OLG and will only be used for the purposes stated in this circular. Information provided about individual candidates will be kept confidential. Only aggregated information for individual councils and for the State will be published.• Councils are requested to email the completed survey, which will be emailed to councils separately, to elect16@olg.nsw.gov.au by 5pm on Wednesday 30 November 2016. This includes councils with uncontested elections.
Where to go for further information
- OLG’s Performance Team can be contacted on 02 4428 4100 or by email at olg@olg.nsw.gov.au .
Tim Hurst
Acting Chief Executive