The cynical deal making and distraction that is a feature of the system of compulsory preferential voting is writ large in the current federal election campaign.
Local Government Association of Queensland President and Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson said the unseemly negotiations and power plays between political parties over preference deals provide more than enough evidence that compulsory preferential voting should not be introduced into local government elections.
Mayor Jamieson said it was crucial that local communities realised that the spectacle of preference deals - secret or otherwise – which is currently being played out federally would infect their council elections if compulsory preferential voting was imposed on local government.
“Do communities really want politicians and parties from outside their local area doing deals and calling the shots on preferences in local council elections?” he asked.
“That is what awaits local communities across Queensland if the Palaszczuk Government succeeds in forcing compulsory preferential voting on Queensland councils.”
“People should retain the right to vote or not to vote for whichever candidate they choose.”
“CPV merely shifts political power from the voters to the parties. It provides a platform to manipulate electoral outcomes and has no place in local council elections.”