Monday 4 December 2017

My independent colleague Greg Piper, the Member for Lake Macquarie and I got the government to change a bill that would have made it harder for new independent candidates to contest future elections.

Currently independents have to secure 15 nominations from electors in their district in a short period during the hectic campaigning period; the government wanted to increase this to 50, while making no changes to party candidates who only need to be nominated by their party office. New candidates don’t have access to the electoral roll and can’t ensure nominators are properly enrolled. I argued that the proposed changes are anti-democratic and discourage competition in elections from community representatives. The government agreed and reduced the number to 25. My speech is HERE.