Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

The next Council election will be fought on revised boundaries, as approved by the Electoral Commissioner.

Unley’s recent representation review (reported in this blog on 30 January 2013) has been considered by the Electoral Commissioner and he has certified it.

As reported back in January on this blog site this means the next election will be based on the following:

1  That there be no change to the name of the city. Unley it was, Unley it is and Unley it is to stay. as far as we are concerned.

2   That the  Mayor will still be elected by the people rather than appointed by the elected members.

3   The there be no area councillors in addition to the ward councillors.

4   That we will retain a 6 ward structure.

5   That we retain 12 elected members plus the Mayor.

6  There will be slight boundary changes to keep the representation of each ward within a 10% tolerance.

7  Goodwood South will be renamed Clarence Park.

The name change is the significant difference to this ward. Goodwood South has some history to it but Clarence park is more identifiable and in keeping with how all the other wards have been named.

The commissioner has put us on notice however in that:

a)   our projections for population changes has been challenged by him. We used the States 30 year projections to guide us and he believes we should not use a 40 year projection for what is only 8 years, when the next review is due.

b)  he has also questioned over representation when compared to councils of similar size and type. The next review the then council will have to give significant consideration to reducing the number of elected members to satisfy him. This may mean a change in the number of wards or even the abandonment of wards.

In the meantime Council are required to arrange a notice to be placed in the SA Government Gazette before or by 12 December 2013 to show we have reviewed our membership structure and confirm the result.