Onkaparinga Council to ask State Gov to consider local government election corflute ban
A southern suburbs council will look to follow the State Government’s lead and ban political posters from Stobie poles and public streets in local government elections.
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A southern suburbs council wants the State Government to consider extending a ban on political posters to local government elections.
Onkaparinga Council will write to local government Minister Vickie Chapman asking for the State Government to remove an exemption for corflute signage during local government elections from proposed election reform.
Councillor Marion Themeliotis said the political posters, put on Stobie poles and public streets at election time, caused environmental issues and create extra unnecessary work for council staff.
“When it comes to campaign time people put them everywhere, they don’t necessarily stick to the guidelines, they’re all over the place, they fall over, they fall off into the road as well,” she said.
“I don’t want to waste council resources sending our rangers out in our vehicles collecting corflutes.
“A lot of candidates including myself don’t put our pretty little face up on poles every council election … and they still got elected.
“With council elections in particular, it’s grassroots campaigning, it’s the doorknocking, the letterboxing, it’s the turning up to events and forums … I don’t think anyone has purely voted on someone based on the number of corflutes that they’ve had up.”
At the council’s September meeting, staff confirmed corflutes often created problems and “significant workload” for staff, even up to six months after elections.
Councillors Richard Peat, Sandra Brown and Alayna de Graaf opposed sending the letter requesting the ban.
“It’s amazing how some of these elected members are jumping on banning them when last time I can recall that they would have a sign at the last council election on every post covering a kilometre which was just inexcusable,” Cr Peat said.
“We don’t have to go into a police state banning of everything.
“I appreciate the environmental question but I think we’re all pretty well responsible people through the election period and we should be able to bring in by laws and restrictions on the number and that would solve the problem.”
In a state first, Mt Barker District Council moved earlier this year to limit the number of signs and corflutes candidates can display during an election to 20 per candidate.
The decision followed unsuccessful attempts at both Adelaide and Campbelltown Councils in 2019 and a push from the Local Government Association.
Council elections, which happen every four years in November, will be next run in SA in 2022.