Councillors reluctantly take leave to campaign for SA Best party in state election

TWO SA Best candidates have been forced to take leave from their local council posts in the lead up to next month’s state election.

SA Best leader Nick Xenophon with candidate Karen Hockley.

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TWO SA Best candidates have been forced to take leave from their local council posts in the lead-up to next month’s state election.

Despite telling The Advertiser they would continue as councillors until after the election, candidates Karen Hockley and Jassmine Wood will now take leave after a directive from SA Best leader Nick Xenophon.

Jassmine Wood.

Ms Wood said she had initially decided not to take leave only because the other councillor in Charles Sturt Council’s Henley Ward was moving to Tumby Bay.

Ms Hockley did not give a reason for not wanting to go on leave from Mitcham council, but later told The Advertiser she had changed her mind.

A spokesman for Mr Xenophon said the decision for all nine councillors to take leave had been “unanimous”.

He said all were taking advice about whether their pay could be “docked” while they were on leave.

The decision means just two of the 18 councillors running for State Parliament – Green candidate Lynton Vonow and independent Badcoe candidate John Woodward – will not take leave. Labor’s Peter Field is yet to decide if he will.

It’s up to individual candidates to decide if they take leave, but Local Government Association president Lorraine Rosenberg says a permanent scheme is needed to end the confusion.

A Liberal Party spokesman said its six candidates who sat on local councils would all take unpaid leave, with two already having left their posts.