Fall in voter turnout a fear for local governments as council election looms

The South West has been falling behind when it comes to voter participation in recent local government elections.

Comparing the last two local elections — in 2021 and 2023 — WA as a whole had an increase in voter turnout from 30.2 per cent to 31.2 per cent.

The South West’s average turnout across the 13 local government areas fell from 37.2 per cent to 36.45 per cent.

While it was still above average, local government expert Professor Andy Asquith from University of Technology Sydney said it was a very concerning trend.

He said it’s one which had been occurring across the country with voting becoming a privilege many took for granted.

“This is happening for a number of reasons — one is people do not understand and know what local government is, what it does and how important it is,” he said.

“It’s a level of government that we interact with a lot of times everyday without realising this.

“When you are down in Bunbury, Perth might not be as accessible and the local government is the level of democracy that is closest to us.”

If the trend continues, Professor Asquith said the worst-case scenario could be the abolishment of local government elections due to lack of participation.

“The State Government could say, ‘Well nobody is interested so we should cancel it’, rather than have a council to decide what is best for each local area, they could appoint an administrator in Perth and send somebody to Bunbury to run the area,” he said.

“Voting in local elections are not compulsory and that should be changed.”

Another solution, Professor Asquith said, was better education teaching the younger generations the importance of local governments.

“Education is critical and it is not just about educating the community, it’s also the children in schools who should learn about local politics,” he said.