2024 NSW Local Government elections: Council update No.1

9 October 2023

This is the first in a series of newsletters for councils that will be distributed in the lead-up to the 2024 NSW Local Government elections.

The newsletters will include key information about the upcoming elections as well as updates on our communications and engagement activity for election participants and voters.

1. Election webinar series

A series of webinars will be held for councils and election participants in the lead-up to the 2024 NSW Local Government elections.

The first webinar for council staff is scheduled for 11am on Thursday, 26 October 2023, and will cover the following topics:

• Introduction to the elections
• Timeline of key election dates
• Election venues
• Constitutional referenda and council polls
• Electoral rolls
• Communications to councils
• Countback elections
• Upcoming council and candidate webinars.

Please register your attendance.

Information about each upcoming webinar will be published on the Electoral Commission’s website and in our regular communications to councils.

Each webinar will be recorded and published on our website for viewing at any time should you be unable to attend at the scheduled time.

2. Supporting the integrity of these elections

Maintaining public trust in the integrity of all NSW democratic processes is vital. The Integrity Hub on our website is a centralised location for information about the Electoral Commission’s role as the independent regulator of elections and election participants in New South Wales. It includes information focused on the transparency of electoral processes, election funding and disclosures and the investigation of breaches of electoral laws. The Hub also provides guidance and support to stakeholders through the provision of educational resources. Our regulatory priorities for each year can also be found in the Hub.

View the Integrity hub.

To respond to the integrity risks of disinformation and misinformation about elections, we also monitor media and social media and we have established a Disinformation Register. A link to our Disinformation Register is found in the Integrity hub. For the 2024 NSW Local Government elections, the Register will correct false and/or misleading statements about local government electoral processes. It will also note any action taken by the Electoral Commission in response to identified disinformation.

View the current Disinformation Register.

3. Communications resources hub for councils

The Electoral Commission will be developing a state-wide communications and engagement plan, focusing on voter awareness in the lead-up to the elections.

As this will be a broad voter awareness campaign, councils will also need to consider their own voter awareness activities and we look forward to working together to ensure electors in your local government area know about their local election. Activating your local networks to focus on your community supports local participation.

To assist councils with their own election awareness-raising activities, the Electoral Commission will provide a calendar of our planned activities that you can tap into and amplify as appropriate. We will also provide a Resources Hub of templates and artifacts to use in your own communication campaign, which will include advertising assets, newsletter articles, social media posts, press release templates, and poster templates for use within your local communities.

To ensure the success of your elections, we may also ask councils to share some other information locally from time to time. This could include information made available from the Electoral Commission aimed at supporting all candidates, such as educational webinar details. We may also invite councils to reach out to local residents and workers to encourage them to express interest in working with the Electoral Commission on the elections.

We will provide further details regarding the Resources Hub in the upcoming webinars and in the lead-up to the election.

If you have any questions about the election or the contents of this newsletter please email enquiries@elections.nsw.gov.au.