Hundred of thousands ‘wasted’ as Shellharbour Ward A by-election returns same result
The Shellharbour Council iVote saga seems to have finally come to an end, however, with the same two councillors returned was it all worth it?
Illawarra Star
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The colourful Shellharbour Council Ward A by-election has been officially declared with the poll yielding exactly the same result as December‘s election.
Independent Kellie Marsh wrapped up her spot on the council in emphatic fashion while Labor’s Maree Edwards claimed the second spot in the city’s western ward.
Ms Edwards margin of victory was extremely narrow, with the first-time councillor edging out no.2 on the Kellie Marsh ticket, Shane Bitschkat – just as she’d done in the initial iVote-affected election.
Shellharbour Mayor Chris Homer had led the council’s push to see the initial outcome upheld and in that sense, he told The Illawarra Star he’s relieved the issue has been finalised.
“Look I am happy there is a result,” he said.
“I am happy we can all move on and this council can deliver the services required by the community.
“I’m looking forward to getting the governing body back together in a team environment and making decisions for the people – that’s why we were elected so I am looking forward to getting back into it.”
Cr Homer chastised the costly by-election which he said would cost in excess of half a million dollars across the affected councils of Shellharbour, Singleton and Kempsey.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the NSW Electoral Commission would pay for the by-elections, but Cr Homer reiterated it was still coming out of pocket of taxpayers.
“The people of NSW paid for this,” Cr Homer said.
“It’s a lot of money spent which doesn’t please me.
“It’s probably in the order for $200,000 (for the Shellharbour Ward A by-election) at the end of the day and that’s while I have got sporting clubs screaming out for infrastructure and sporting facilities which I would have loved to use that money on.”
Speaking to The Illawarra Star earlier this month, Cr Marsh also described the by-election as a “massive waste”.
“It’s been a massive waste of people’s time,” Cr Marsh said.
“The amount of time and energy that candidates put into the elections can’t be comprehended. We’ve got normal jobs that we’ve got to take time away from and we’ve got to take time away from family as well as council business.
“That $100,000 could have been spent on so many other things in the community other than running another election.
“It puts extra pressure on council and council staff. We’ve just appointed a new General Manager – that should have been our main focus, training them and getting them up to speed but we’ve had to contend with this through no fault of the council or the community.”
Shellharbour Council is set to reconvene on Tuesday, August 23.
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