To stand for election as a Councillor, or a Mayor elected by the people of a local government district, you must:
- be 18 years of age or older
- be an Australian citizen or a British subject prior to 26 January 1984
- be an elector of the district
- if a current council member, have a term that ends on election day, unless you are standing for mayor or president directly elected by the public;
- have completed the Mandatory Local Government Candidate Induction available on the DLGSC website.
You are not eligible to nominate for council if you:
- are a member of State or Federal Parliament
- are an insolvent under administration
- are serving a prison sentence for a crime
- been convicted of a serious local government offence within the last 5 years
- been convicted for an offence which the penalty was imprisonment for more than 5 years
- are an elected member of another council
- are subject to a court order disqualifying you from being a council member because you have misapplied local government funds or property
- are on the local electoral roll as the nominee of a body corporate
Mandatory induction prior to nomination
You must complete the online induction course before you submit your nomination. The course provides information on the role and responsibilities of being a council member, and the rules related to election campaigns and will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. When you register your completion of the course, you will receive a confirmation email with a reference number and date of completion. You must include the reference number and completion date on your nomination form. The DLGSC strongly recommends that you show a digital or print copy of the confirmation email to the returning officer when you submit your nomination.
This course must be completed by all candidates, including existing councillors running for re-election.
For a nomination to stand for council to be effective you will need to have:
- Completed and signed a nomination form (including reference number & date of completion of the on-line candidate induction)
- Completed a Candidate profile
- Deposited $100 cash. Can be EFT as long as it is credited to the local government before the close of nominations
- Can also include an additional written statement containing information that the candidate considers relevant to their candidature (optional)
- Your nomination must be received by the Returning Officer (Cornel Scheibling on 0473 803 101) before the close of nominations
There is an Online nomination builder available at https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/nomination-builder
- You can use this to prepare the nomination form, profile and upload photograph online
- You cannot nominate online
- Provide your nomination ID at Returning Officer interview when submitting nomination
When you nominate for council, your candidate profile is to:
- be written in English
- not be more than 1000 characters inclusive of spaces (excluding your name and contact details)
- be confined to information about you, your policies and beliefs
- not contain information that is false, misleading or defamatory
- be on a single-sided A4 page (it can be handwritten, typed or printed)
- include your full name, address and contact numbers (your name must be in the form in which you have asked for it to be shown on the ballot paper)
- include a recent head or head and shoulders photograph no larger than a passport photo if you wish.
The purpose of the profile is to provide information to electors about your policies and beliefs so that they can make an informed choice when voting.
You may wish to tell them what you think are important services and facilities for your community and what you would like your local government to consider providing. You could highlight new areas where council could develop policies; and tell them what you would work towards on their behalf should you be elected.
A candidate who has not been an elected member previously could relate beliefs or policies to positions, decisions or outcomes they would encourage the council adopt. You could indicate your involvement with community groups that may have aims or agendas with which the candidate agrees.
Take care to avoid negative comments about other candidates or anyone else. Such comments could be viewed as defamatory. Make sure that the statements you make are practical and will not mislead.
The returning officer can amend your profile if it does not meet these requirements. Preferably, this will be done in consultation with you. This can be done before or after nominations close. If a profile is changed, the returning officer will promptly provide you with written notice of the change and the reason for it.
Your profile will be included in the postal voting package. It may be reproduced in the form in which you submitted it, or it may be reformatted.
Tip: read the notes on the back of your nomination form before you fill it out and before you write your profile. Adhere to the conditions set down for candidate profiles as your nomination could be rejected if it does not conform to the requirements.
Should you wish to submit a photo, it is suggested that you use one with a light background as this provides better quality reproduction. The photo is included in the overall size limitation of the profile (single-sided, A4).
Key concept: the purpose of the candidate profile is to enable electors to make an informed choice when voting.
Written statement
When nominating for council, you can also provide a written statement for publication on the local government’s website.
The written statement can contain information that you believe to be relevant to your campaign, in addition to your candidate profile. It must be written in English, accompany your nomination paper and contain no more than 2000 characters, inclusive of spaces.
A common area of concern for some candidates relates to the authorisation of election campaign material. It is important to note that any material “that is intended, calculated or likely to affect voting in an election” is required to be authorised.
The requirements relating to the authorisation of election material apply irrespective of who is publishing the material and whether it is in printed or electronic form.
Any electoral advertisement, handbill, pamphlet or electoral notice (other than an advertisement in a newspaper announcing the holding of a meeting), letter or article must include the name and physical street address (not a PO Box number) of the person authorising it, at the foot of the material. If the material is printed in hard copy, then it must also include the name and place of business of the printer at the foot of the material. This applies unless the advertisement is in a newspaper (in which case the printer is obvious and contactable).
If election material is produced and printed by the one person (eg. using a home computer and printer), then the legislative provisions are satisfied by adding ‘Authorised and printed by (name), (address)’ at the foot of the material.
Certain small items of a candidate or party promotional nature are exempt from the requirement to carry the authorisation and addresses. These include:
- T-shirts, lapel buttons, lapel badges, pens, pencils or balloons
- Business or visiting cards that promote the candidacy of any person in an election.
Electoral Rolls
Free to candidates for campaigning purposes
- 1 Residents Roll and 1 Owners and Occupiers Roll (for the ward or district they are contesting)
- There are rules regarding the destruction and deletion of copies of rolls
- There are offences for misuse of roll
- Can be delivered by you or your agent (if your nomination is signed and delivered by someone else you must provide written authorisation signed by you before nominations close)
- Can be posted or faxed.
- Can be sent by any electronic means if a hard copy of the nomination can be printed in full including your signature.An electronic nomination is deemed to be received when a hard copy is printed. The receipt of your nomination does not mean that it has been accepted as an effective nomination. The $100 deposit must also be paid before a nomination can be accepted.
Tip: if faxing or emailing your nomination, phone your local government’s returning officer (Cornel Scheibling on 0473 803 101) to check they received it, made a hard copy of it before nominations close.
Display of nomination and profile
When a nomination has been accepted, the returning officer will arrange for your nomination details (but not your nomination form), and your profile to be published on the local government's official website. Nomination details include the candidate’s name, the name to appear on the ballot paper, mayor, president or councillor position, and the type of election (for instance, ordinary or extraordinary).
The details and profile will stay on the website until 6.00pm on election day.
A nomination is cancelled if you withdraw it before nominations close. Nominations can only be withdrawn by a written notice to the returning officer. If the notice is from your agent, it must be accompanied by, or be followed by, a letter of authorisation from you before the close of nominations. A withdrawal notice or letter of authorisation can be transmitted in the same way as a nomination paper.
When a nomination is cancelled, nomination details and profiles will be removed from display and replaced by a notice of the cancellation until nominations close.
If you withdraw after 4.00pm on the day before nominations close, you will forfeit your deposit. The withdrawal of nominations can only occur up to the close of nominations. Your nomination cannot be withdrawn after the close of nominations.