Local council elections postponed until December 4 due to COVID

Local council elections – which would have seen all of us of voting age in the Hawkesbury going to the polls on September 4 – are being postponed for over three months, until December 4.

The decision – which speaks loud to how long the government fear it will take to get this latest COVID outbreak under control – was made late today by the NSW government.

Last year, local elections were postponed for a year – again as a result of COVID – which means it will be around 18 months since elections should have been held by the time December 4 rolls around.

Shelley Hancock, NSW Minister for Local Government, confirmed the change of date late this afternoon.

On the plus side, the delay does give candidates more time to raise their profiles, given that there is unlikely to be door-knocking or much public engagement thanks to COVID.

The decision has been taken because voting at polling booths in September would have been potentially a virus-spreading danger, and the State is not in a position – it’s not sufficiently digitally organised – to carry out a full online poll in the time available before September.

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