2020 NSW Councils Election Bulletin No.1

Bulletin No.1 Issued 18 March 2020

2020 NSW Councils Election Bulletin No.1 (PDF 0.2 MB)

Councils sharing returning office and Returning Officer resources

To provide councils with an opportunity to realise possible savings during the conduct of the September 2020 local government elections, we have created 33 ‘regional’ returning offices comprising 85 councils. For each of these regional returning offices there will be a single Returning Officer managing the election for a number of councils.

Stand-alone councils

For the larger councils with a significant number of polling places and contests, we have kept them standing alone, appointing a separate Returning Officer for each council. There are 39 stand-alone councils.

These are Bayside, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Cessnock, Coffs Harbour, Cumberland, Georges River, Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Inner West, Kempsey, Kiama, Ku-ring-gai, Lake Macquarie, Liverpool, Maitland, Mid-Coast, Newcastle, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Randwick, Ryde, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Sutherland, Sydney, The Hills, Tweed, Waverley, Willoughby, Wingecarribee, Wollondilly, Wollongong and Woollahra.

List of councils with regional returning offices

Albury Region RO Office is a regional returning office for City of Albury and Greater Hume Shire.

Armidale Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Armidale Regional, Glen Innes Severn Shire and Uralla.

Bathurst Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Bathurst Regional, Blayney and Oberon.

Bega Valley Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Bega Valley and Eurobodalla.

Broken Hill Region RO Office is a regional returning office for City of Broken Hill and Wentworth.

Burwood Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield.

Byron Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Ballina and Byron.

Clarence Valley Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Clarence Valley and Richmond Valley.

Cobar Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina and Cobar.

Coolamon Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Coolamon, Junee, Narrandera and Temora.

Coonamble Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Coonamble, Gilgandra and Warren.

Cowra Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Bland, Cowra and Weddin.

Dubbo Region RO Office is a regional returning office for Dubbo Regional and Narromine.

Federation Region RO Office is a regional office for Berrigan, Federation and Murrumbidgee.

Goulburn Mulwaree Region RO Office is a regional office for Goulburn Mulwaree, Upper Lachlan Shire and Yass Valley.
    
Griffith Region RO Office is a regional office for Carrathool, City of Griffith, Hay and Leeton.

Gundagai Region RO Office is a regional office for Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional, Hilltops and Snowy Valleys.

Gunnedah Region RO Office is a regional office for Gunnedah, Liverpool Plains and Warrumbungle Shire.

Inverell Region RO Office is a regional office for Gwydir and Inverell.

Lane Cove Region RO Office is a regional office for Lane Cove and Hunter's Hill.

Lismore Region RO Office is a regional office for City of Lismore, Kyogle and Tenterfield.

Mid-Western Region RO Office is a regional office for City of Lithgow and Mid-Western Regional.

Moree Plains Region RO Office is a regional office for Moree Plains, Narrabri and Walgett.

Murray River Region RO Office is a regional office for Edward River and Murray River.

Muswellbrook Region RO Office is a regional office for Muswellbrook, Singleton and Upper Hunter Shire.

Nambucca Region RO Office is a regional office for Bellingen and Nambucca.
 
North Sydney Region RO Office is a regional office for Mosman and North Sydney.

Orange Region RO Office is a regional office for Cabonne and City of Orange.

Parkes Region RO Office is a regional office for Forbes, Lachlan and Parkes.

Port Stephens Region RO Office is a regional office for Dungog and Port Stephens.

Queanbeyan-Palerang Region RO Office is a regional office for Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional and Snowy Monaro Regional.

Tamworth Region RO Office is a regional office for Tamworth Regional and Walcha.

Wagga Wagga Region RO Office is a regional office for City of Wagga Wagga and Lockhart. is a regional office for Muswellbrook, Singleton and Upper Hunter Shire.

Pre-poll voting for councils sharing resources

To ensure that electors are not disadvantaged where there is a regional returning office and it is not located in their local government area, we will ensure that there is a pre-poll venue in every local government area.

Candidate nominations for councils sharing resources

We now have a number of options for candidates who wish to nominate for this election. We have developed an online nomination system (similar to the system developed for the 2019 State general election). The system will allow candidates to submit their nominations online and also pay their required deposit online. We would naturally encourage candidates to use this system.

Those candidates who would rather nominate using the traditional nomination form, can do so and submit their completed nomination form and deposit to the Returning Officer before nominations close.

Where councils are sharing a returning office/Returning Officer and the returning office isn’t located within their LGA, we would accept nomination forms and deposits being submitted via the respective council, who will then scan and forward them onto the Returning Officer for review and acceptance/rejection.

This process is of course subject to those councils being happy to ‘receive’ nominations from candidates. We will naturally be happy to discuss this further with those councils who may offer this service.

Councillors and Mayors

Just a reminder to all councils to keep us informed of any Councillors who resign, pass away or are dismissed from office. The Funding, Disclosure and Compliance team need to keep accurate records of all current Councillors, who will also be listed on our website prior to the election.

Non-residential electors

Councils are already receiving enquiries from electors not on their residential roll who would like to apply to be non-residential electors.

We have now created the ‘Non-Residential Rolls – Information for Councils’ fact sheet which should give you everything you need to know about the non-residential rolls. 

Non-residential roll application forms for both individuals and nominees are also available.

These application forms need to be customised to suit each council.