Councillor Chris Harris

Despite a clear direction from the Governor that the City would be divided into wards before the next council election in 2008, it has become a matter for Council’s discretion according to advice sought from the Department of Local Government.

Even if council decided to introduce wards, it would be unlikely to occur before the 2012 election because it would require a constitutional referendum, according to the advice.

“This is a crucial issue for voters in the City of Sydney, and Clover Moore needs to decide one way or the other as soon as possible,’ said Chris Harris, Deputy Lord Mayor and Greens candidate for Sydney.

“First it was precinct committees that seem to have dropped off the agenda, and now it’s a ward system that is under question.

“These are fundamental issues of local democracy and the real test of how representative this council actually is under Ms Moore,” he said.

The issue goes back to the 2004 Proclamation which amalgamated the City of Sydney with the former South Sydney Council and parts of Leichhardt.

The Proclamation from the Governor decreed that the first election under the new boundaries in 2004 was to be held without wards and that ‘there shall be wards for subsequent ordinary elections’.

This is apparently not clear enough for Council so legal advice was sought as to whether the proclamation overrode the Local Government Act. A convoluted legal response concluded that it may not.

Under the Act wards are a matter of Council’s discretion and to introduce them, a constitutional
referendum would be necessary.

In a letter to Council the Department of Local Government supported this legal advice even while disagreeing with its reasoning.

However Cr Harris thinks the questions council asked its lawyers were biased. Different legal questions such as ‘is there any legal impediment to Council simply following the terms of the Proclamation?’ may have produced a different answer.

If Council followed this new advice but still decided in favour of wards, the least expensive way to hold a referendum would be in conjunction with the next council election. If the ‘Yes’ vote then prevailed it would then be 2012 before wards came into effect at an election.

“It may, however, be possible to hold a referendum along with the federal election later this year,’ Said Cr Harris.

“But it appears to me that, under the proclamation, Council is obliged to reconstitute wards before the next election and it could be done by following the normal public consultation process. Additionally, Council can choose the number of wards AND the number of councillors.’

Before the amalgamation there were effectively four wards - three in South Sydney plus the cbd. There were 16 councillors in total - now there are only ten, making the system far less representative.

‘To ward or not to ward’ is a debatable topic.

Supporters argue that wards improve local representation because councillors can specialise in smaller areas and get to know residents better.

A ward system also assisted strong community candidates to run, capitalising on their local profile. Such a candidate from Rosebery, for instance, might be completely unknown in Elizabeth Bay, whose residents would be unlikely to vote for them under the present system.

This favours high-profile or wealthy candidates, incumbents and the major parties, because they can build profile right across the City. Wards are thus seen to be more democratic.

Opponents of wards argue that they can parochialise issues and mitigate against sensible city-wide planning, for instance in traffic matters.

Chris Harris believes wards are the most democratic option.

“I don’t agree with the parochialisation argument,” he said.

“As a councillor, most of the issues I deal with are intensely local anyway, and it’s really difficult for any councillor to have in-depth knowledge of every tree, speedhump and liquor license right across such a diverse LGA.

“It’s far better to have local councillors with local knowledge, and the more councillors and wards the better.

“This does not prevent sound city-wide strategic planning as there are checks and balances in the council committee system and in the expertise of staff.

“So I call on Council to instigate a wards process as soon as possible so the community knows what’s what at the next election,” Councillor Harris said.