A message from the Mayor: Democracy and our new member for Oxley

Published on 03 April 2023

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my warmest congratulations to Michael Kemp for being elected as the new member representing Oxley, which includes Kempsey Shire, in the NSW State Parliament. Mr Kemp will play a significant role in shaping the future of our region. I offer him my best wishes for his legislative journey and look forward to working closely with him to improve our community.

We should all be thankful that we can have an election that is peaceful and produces a democratically chosen representative. Both the outgoing Premier, Mr Perrotet, and the incoming Premier, Mr Minns, labelled the election campaign as one of ideas that were put to the electorate. This robust democracy without name-calling and nastiness is inspiring. Some previous elections have taken the ‘low road’, which did not reflect well for our democracy.

The Oxley electorate had seven candidates vying for the seat, each with their own vision for the future of our area. Each had self-belief they could do a great job for us. Each of them campaigned in their own way. Nearly all of them attended campaign meet-the-people events across the electorate and were questioned about their positions on a multitude of topics.

On reflection I think we should all be extremely thankful that each of these candidates nominated themselves to represent us. Each gave us the choice that we then made at the polling booth.

Optional preference voting

I do have concerns regarding the NSW optional preference system in voting, which I believe does not serve democracy well. Ours is the only state in Australia that uses a system where it is legal to just vote 1 on the lower house ballot paper. The other states, and the federal government, still require the full preferential voting system, which mandates numbering every box.

Nearly 20% of the votes cast in the Oxley electorate were not fully preferenced, and therefore did not get counted in the final reckoning. This means that a significant portion of voters did not have an input into the final decision. I believe that the full preferential system of voting should be reinstated in NSW, to ensure that every vote counts towards the final outcome. I look forward to suggestions from the community on how to achieve this change.