Six up for the rich

Peter Farago
THE FUTURE make-up of City of Greater Geelong ward system is under review and public consultation closes next week.
At stake is the future electoral set-up of the 12-councillor system.
Council’s position is clear: it wants to retain a 12-ward system and is expected to restate its preference next week.
The system has worked but if it’s retained there would have to be boundary changes.
Twelve wards represent areas of common interest across the city, grouping like suburbs and giving rural areas a voice in larger wards.
But there is a down side.
Some submissions to Victorian Electoral Commission’s review said 12 wards promoted parochialism and enabled group tickets and so-called dummy candidates at council elections.
Of course, the use of group tickets and dummy candidates has been prevalent at recent Geelong elections – prompting a municipal inquiry and an Ombudsman’s probe into the cash-for-councillors scandal.
But the electoral commission believes council should operate as six two-member wards in which voters would elect their representatives through a Senate-style proportional vote.
This system would not be immune to group tickets or dummy candidates.
However, proportional representation makes it harder to get group tickets into power.
There’s another issue at stake if the six-ward proposal gets the nod.
It could put the cost of running for council beyond the reach of many potential candidates.
If a group of business figures decides to pool its money together again to promote a cadre of candidates, others who run for office could be blown out the water in the campaign, given the largesse shown by some at the last poll, whether effective or not.
The cost of printing election flyers and posters is obviously high, otherwise councillors and candidates wouldn’t seek financial support from developers.
And larger wards would mean higher costs to provide these items across the electorate.
For those who don’t have private backing and aren’t independently wealthy, this mountain of costs to climb could discourage them from running for office.
But does this argument really wash?
At the end of the day, voters elect their representatives on merit, not how glitzy their campaigns are.
What ratepayers have to consider in this review is whether they think six or 12 wards would better serve their needs.