2024 NSW Local Government elections: Council update No.8

18 July 2024

1. Reminder Non-residential rolls to be finalised 5 August 2024

Council general managers must finalise the non-residential roll and the roll of occupiers and ratepaying lessees for their local government area by 6pm on Monday, 5 August 2024 (being the closing date for the electoral rolls).

The general manager must certify both of these rolls as being, in the general manager’s opinion, a roll of the persons who on the closing date are qualified for inclusion in the roll. The Electoral Commissioner must confirm the non-residential rolls after they are certified by the general manager.

Access to the non-residential roll management system portal has been made available for each council’s nominated officer to enable the entry of the council’s non-residential rolls. Should you require any further information or assistance please email nrr.rolls@elections.nsw.gov.au

2. Reminder for Councillors and Mayors: Political donation and electoral expenditure disclosures are due

We encourage you to share this information. From 1 July 2024, councillors, mayors, and other political participants must submit half-yearly political donation and electoral expenditure disclosures. 

• Political donations made and received from 1 January 2024 to 30 June 2024 must be disclosed to the NSW Electoral Commission by Monday, 12 August 2024.
• Electoral expenditure incurred from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 must be disclosed by Monday, 23 September 2024.

If there is no political donation made or received during the half-yearly period or no electoral expenditure incurred during the annual period, political participants are required to make a ‘nil’ disclosure. 

Disclosures can be submitted using Funding and disclosure online. Using Funding and disclosure online reduces the risk of lodging invalid or incomplete disclosures, and users can see the status of their disclosures. Alternatively, download, complete and submit a disclosure form.

Candidates are required to make disclosures from the time they are registered for the 2024 NSW Local Government elections up to, and including, the relevant disclosure period ending 30 June 2025.

Disclosure requirements are strictly enforced, and it is an offence to fail to submit a disclosure on time. Find out more about how and when to make disclosures.

3. Nominations Online Management System (NOMS)

The Nominations Online Management System (NOMS) is now available for prospective candidates and registered political parties to commence preparing their nominations before the lodgement period opens on 5 August 2024.

Should you receive enquiries at council offices about nominations, please advise participants to contact the Candidate Helpdesk on 1300 022 011 or candidates@elections.nsw.gov.au 

4. Candidate handbook

The candidate handbook is now available on our website. Please assist candidates or political participants with any questions about participating in the 2024 NSW Local Government elections by directing them to this resource. 

5. Our voter awareness campaign is live

Phase 1 of our advertising campaign went live on Monday,15 July encouraging voters to enrol, or check and update their enrolment. We have advertisements running on social media, digital video, audio and a print and radio component to reach culturally and linguistically diverse audiences. Phase 2 of the campaign, raising awareness of voting options available, will start on Tuesday, 6 August when postal vote applications open. 

We’d love your help with sharing the message with your networks. 

You can find:

• media releases to share with your local news contacts about enrolment on our media hub; and 
• a Meta post, using our new enrolment animation that you can share to your own pages. 

6. Election advertisements available to place in your local newspaper

We’ve had several requests from councils for election advertisements that can be placed in local newspapers regarding the upcoming elections. 

Two advertisements are now available to download from our Communications resources page regarding enrolment and the opening of candidate nominations. 

If you plan to publish advertisements in your local paper, we encourage you to place these before the close of rolls and opening of nominations on Monday, 5 August 2024.

7. Community education resources available now

The NSW Electoral Commission has developed educational resources that you can share ahead of the 2024 NSW Local Government elections. These resources are designed to help voters understand their options for voting in the 2024 NSW Local Government elections.

General awareness animations

General awareness animations are now live on the NSW Electoral Commission YouTube channel. The topics include:

• enrolling to vote
• how to fill in ballot papers
• voting options
• how to vote by post
• how votes are counted.

These engaging, easy to understand videos will also be translated into Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Greek, Italian and Korean. The in-language animations will be made available at the end of July and shared in the next newsletter. 

Information in community languages

Our website's Information in your language page, links users to information in 26 languages about:

• how to vote
• where and when to vote
• assistance when voting.

Resources are translated into the following languages: Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Vietnamese, Arabic, Greek, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Macedonian, Serbian, Turkish, Khmer, Croatian, Assyrian, Russian, Portuguese, Thai, Persian, Lao, Maltese, Polish, Dari, Hindi, Filipino, Nepali and Kurdish.

We encourage you to share these resources through your networks. 

8. Councils and electoral material 

The regulated election period is from Monday, 5 August 2024 until 6pm, Saturday, 14 September 2024. During this period, all electoral material such as how-to-vote cards and posters must meet the requirements of the legislation in relation to content, type, placement and distribution.

During the regulated election period, the NSW Electoral Commission regulates the display of posters in two general ways:

• whether it complies with requirements about content, e.g. incorrect or misleading information about voting, that it includes the name and address of the person authorising the material, etc.
• whether it has been placed in or on certain places, e.g. posters are not permitted on certain premises, or within 6 metres of venues at which people are voting, etc.

During the regulated election period, posters must not be displayed on or within any premises occupied or used by, or under the control or management of any Council.

Some exceptions apply to the display of posters:

• posters may be displayed on the outer wall, fence or other boundary of the grounds of an enclosure in which a building used for voting is situated
• posters may be displayed within the grounds of an enclosure in which a building used for voting is situated
• posters may be displayed on a vehicle on a road or road related area 
• posters may be fixed or attached to a table or stall on a footpath or other public places at any time of day of voting for an election.

We appreciate that Council may hold public safety concerns regarding the placement of posters, including A-frames, on footpaths or other public spaces and will act according to its authority in these matters. 

The NSW Electoral Commission does not regulate the size of posters or the period of when they are displayed. We advise candidates and political parties to be aware of other laws about posters. Councils will be aware that election posters may also be ‘exempt development’ not requiring development approval. For example, to be exempt development a poster must:

• not be more than 0.8m2 in area
• be displayed only during the following periods
  • 8 weeks immediately preceding the day on which the election is held
  • the day on which the election is held
  • 1 week immediately following the day on which the election is held.

9. Non-client Councils to provide nomination forms

Under the Local Government (General) Regulation, the returning officer for the Fairfield City Council and Liverpool City Council elections must provide copies of all nomination forms (including the candidate information sheets) to the NSW Electoral Commission within 6 days after nominations close on Wednesday 14 August 2024, i.e. by Tuesday 20 August 2024.