Corflutes banned from 2022 SA local government elections

Many people hate roadside corflutes - and they’ll be missing at this year’s council elections. But will voters be disadvantaged?

Election posters on Stobie poles in Adelaide. Picture: AAP/ Keryn Stevens

Local government elections will be free of roadside corflutes this year, but the move may be to the detriment of voters who fail to return their ballot papers, a political commentator says.

Under changes to the Local Government Act, posters made from plastic or corflute are banned from public roads, including on traffic signs and vegetation, or risk a $5000 fine.

Flinders University political scientist Haydon Manning said the move may have unintended consequences as it was not compulsory to vote in the November council elections.

“As we get closer to voting it is a democratic deficit, particularly as voting is voluntary,” Professor Manning said.

“People need to think about it (voting) and having a bit of colour in corflutes on the telegraph pole is a good thing.

“To me, this is much more serious as a negative to democratic politics than the question around whether (a candidate is) a member of a political party.”

In the 2018 elections, only 32.94 per cent of eligible people in SA voted – Marion and Playford councils had the worst turnouts with 25.5 and 25.7 per cent, respectively.

Campbelltown Council advocated for the corflute ban after the election and several councils supported the push at the Local Government Association AGM in 2019. Changes were made to the legislation late last year.

Playford Council mayor Glenn Docherty said the position on corflutes was set by the state government.

Kangaroo Island mayor Michael Pengilly said its council had voted unanimously in favour to ban the use of corflutes.

“We didn’t think we needed to litter Kangaroo Island by putting posters up of people’s faces, so the council decided we wouldn’t have them,” Mr Pengilly said.

Mr Pengilly believed the ban would not hurt its voter turnout – which was 66 per cent in 2018 – as social media played now played a greater role in elections.

“I think things have changed, with social media, Facebook and Twitter it’s really taken over from corflutes. The ones that normally complain are those that are unknown,” he said.

Local Government Minister Geoff Brock said posters made from other materials can still be displayed in accordance with an authorisation, permit or by-law in the relevant council area.

In 2020, former attorney-general Vickie Chapman moved to ban political posters from Stobie poles and public roads during state elections.

The changes to the electoral reform Bill failed by one vote in the Upper House in 2021.

In July, Opposition leader David Speirs again flagged the party’s intention to ban the use of corflutes, proposing to consult the community before introducing legislation.