Libs advocate No vote in referendum

The Liberals will support the status quo on councillor numbers for Central Coast Council, says The Liberal Party Central Coast Local Government Committee President Godfrey Franz.

That means voting no in the referendum being held with the September 14 council elections.

Franz said the key reason was that councillor numbers were reduced from 20 to 15 when the two former council areas, Gosford and Wyong, were merged in 2016 to create the Central Coast Council.

He said evidence from the Public Inquiry into Central Coast Council in 2021 showed that ordinary councillors were overworked and relatively underpaid for their work, which he estimated to be about 20 hours a week.

He said the new councillors would have a lot of work to do and having nine councillors would give the public less access to them.

Central Coast residents are being asked to vote either “yes” or “no” in a referendum on councillor numbers when they vote on September 14 in the council elections.

The question will be: “Do you favour a reduction in the number of Central Coast councillors from 15 to nine? This will result in three wards with each ward electing three councillors.”

The referendum proposal was adopted by Council in May 2021, at the initiative of the interim administrator Dick Persson and the plan to hold the referendum was confirmed by current administrator Rik Hart in October 2021.

The Liberal position on the referendum is the same as that of the Labor Party: see https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/07/labor-party-backs-no-vote-at-referendum/

The Greens have also confirmed they are advocating a “no” vote.

Both of the major parties are expected to announce their candidates for the September 14 election soon.

Nominations open on August 5 and close on August 14.

Going to be away on voting day?

See information from the Electoral Commission on voting: https://coastcommunitynews.com.au/central-coast/news/2024/08/casting-your-vote-on-september-14/

Merilyn Vale