Local government elections

In New South Wales, local government elections (or Council elections) are normally held every four years.

At these elections, you have the opportunity to vote for local candidates to become Councillors.

The elected Councillors then normally serve Kempsey Shire Council for a four-year term.

Voting

Voting in local government elections is compulsory for anyone registered on the electoral roll, and to vote you must be registered.

If you're a resident in the Kempsey Shire Council area, you can check if your enrolment details are up to date with the Australian Electoral Commission.

Becoming a Councillor

Kempsey Shire Council’s Mayor and eight Councillors are elected by their local community. 

As democratically elected representatives, Councillors work together to make decisions about what Council will do to meet community needs and how to spend money in the best interests of the shire - see How Council works.

If you are passionate about your local community then you already have what it takes to become a Councillor. Being a Councillor is a rewarding opportunity to: 

  • make well-informed decisions in the interests of your local community 
  • influence the long-term vision and direction of your community 
  • facilitate communication between Council and community members
  • work with diverse and passionate people on a range of issues 
  • uphold and represent the policies and decisions of Council
  • learn new skills, such as public speaking and advocacy

The NSW Office of Local Government has resources on becoming a Councillor.

Background to the Councillor by-election on 30 July 2022

In December, the NSW Electoral Commission revealed that some users of their iVote system had been unable to gain access to the system to vote in the local government elections on Saturday 4 December 2021. This was due to technical issues in the process run by the Electoral Commission.

In Kempsey Shire Council's case, 34 electors had been approved by the Electoral Commission but were unable to vote and did not vote by other means.

After analysing the potential outcomes, John Schmidt, the Electoral Commissioner for New South Wales, sought an order that our 4 December Councillor election be declared void.

On 5 April 2022, the NSW Supreme Court handed down its orders on the NSW Electoral Commission's application to void the result of the 4 December election in Kempsey Shire. The Supreme Court ordered that a new election be held. This decision was announced on Thursday 17 March.

The court ruled the election of the eight Councillors void, effective 3 May 2022, requiring a by-election within three months of that date. The NSW Electoral Commission was also required to pay Council’s legal costs. 

The Kempsey Mayoral election was not materially impacted and the election of Mayor Leo Hauville was not challenged by the Electoral Commission. Mayor Hauville will therefore stay in office until 2024.

On Monday 6 June 2022, the NSW Electoral Commission announced the by-election date of 30 July 2022.

For more information, see Kempsey Councillors election result overturned and Kempsey to return to the polls by August

Results of the Councillor by-election

The NSW Electoral Commission announced the by-election results on 15 August 2022. The 8 elected Councillors were:

  • Arthur Bain
  • Scott Butterfield
  • Simon Fergusson
  • Anthony Patterson
  • Kerri Riddington
  • Kinne Ring      
  • Dean Saul
  • Alexandra Wyatt.

To see the by-election results in detail, visit the NSW Electoral Commission's Kempsey Shire Council election page.

Results of the December 2021 election

On 21 December 2021, Leo Hauville was announced as the next Mayor of Kempsey Shire. View the Declaration of Mayor here(PDF, 180KB)

On 23 December 2021, the following candidates were declared elected as Councillors:

  • Simon Fergusson
  • Liz Campbell
  • V Craigie 
  • Arthur Bain
  • Alexandra Wyatt
  • Joshua Freeman 
  • Kerri Riddington
  • Anthony Patterson.

View the Declaration of Councillors here(PDF, 329KB)

The full results for the 4 December 2021 election are available from the NSW Electoral Commission.

Why was the last election delayed?

In New South Wales, local government elections (or Council elections) are normally held every four years. At these elections, you have the opportunity to vote for local candidates to become Councillors. The elected Councillors then normally serve Kempsey Shire Council for a four-year term.

The last election was held on Saturday 4 December 2021. Local government elections were due to be held across New South Wales in September 2020. However, due to COVID-19, the NSW Government postponed the election for a year, to September 2021, and then in July 2021 again postponed the election from September 2021 to December 2021.

Past election results

Past election results are available on the NSW Electoral Commission’s website.