At the Local Government elections to be held on September 14, voters will be asked to respond to a Constitutional Referendum question: “Woollahra Municipal Council currently has 15 Councillors. Do you favour reducing the total number of Councillors from 15 to 9?”  This would also see the number of wards being reduced from 5 to 3. You will be asked to respond Yes or No. The result of the Referendum is based on the majority of votes and is binding. Any changes would be made at the next LGA elections in 2028.

The QSWWA urges residents to reject this proposal and vote No. We are concerned that this will reduce local representation without any meaningful savings to the Council finances. Specifically:

1. The Council paper on the proposal admits that the approximately $200,000 savings in Councillor costs are likely to be eaten up by having to employ additional staff to handle the increasing burden on the 9 remaining Councillors.
2. Councillors are busy enough at the moment and this would dramatically increase their workload, even with additional staff support from the Council, meaning less time spend on individual issues for residents.
3. Merging the wards reduces the deep understanding the Councillors have of an area.  Much of Cooper Ward would probably be merged with Paddington Ward, but Paddington and Woollahra are distinct and different areas, with different issues and having specific Cooper Ward Councillors is a great benefit to us at the moment.
4. Reducing the diversity of opinions on the Council risks reducing the quality of decision making. Other people’s opinions and ideas can be frustrating at times, particularly if they aren’t agreeing with you, but they do help ensure that different aspects of a problem or proposed solution are considered, which leads to better outcomes. Reducing the number of Councillors is very unlikely to improve the quality of decision making.

Vote No and retain Cooper Ward and our 3 Cooper Ward Councillors.

Giles Edmonds, President, QSWWA