3 days ago
Pay rise for key election staff amid concerns over upcoming WA local government elections
WA taxpayers have spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars topping up the pay of key state election staff in the wake of the problem-plagued March poll.
It comes after the ABC last week revealed the state electoral commission's top ranks had been further depleted ahead of the looming local government elections.
The March state election was beset by a range of problems, with reports of long lines at polling places and some running out of ballot papers.
Amid the ongoing fallout, Electoral Commissioner Robert Kennedy went on extended leave, with Department of Water and Environmental Regulation deputy director Dennis O'Reilly brought in to act in the role in late May.
After his appointment, it's understood Mr O'Reilly reviewed the pay for returning officers, who are appointed to manage the election in each electorate.
"It was determined that some tasks and responsibilities were more complex than initially scoped," a spokesperson told the ABC.
"All 59 districts in the state were reclassified, and a higher payment fee applied as a result. The total cost of the redetermination was $240,547."
In a letter to returning officers seen by the ABC, Mr O'Reilly wrote he understood "the work undertaken by returning officers exceeded initial expectations".
"There were responsibilities not adequately scoped by the Western Australian Electoral Commission when determining the remuneration package for each district," he wrote.
"As part of the preparations for the 2029 state election, the commission will be reviewing its methodology for determining returning officer payment fees.
"Returning officers play a crucial role in the electoral process, and it is important that their contributions are appropriately acknowledged and compensated."
Budget papers revealed the election cost $4 million more to execute than had been budgeted.
The average cost per elector of running the election also rose significantly from $14.43 for the 2021 election to $23.70 for the 2025 election.
An independent inquiry into what went wrong and why the commission decided to outsource much of the election's staffing to a private company recently handed its report to the government.
On Tuesday, Premier Roger Cook told parliament the report would be reviewed by the State Solicitor's Office before being released publicly.
"I know that some returning officers were concerned that because of some of the issues they faced in their electorate, which are probably to do with some of those issues that the special inquiry is looking into, they probably did more work than they thought they were going to," Electoral Affairs Minister David Michael told parliament when asked about the top-up payments.
Last week the ABC revealed that in addition to Mr Kennedy being on extended leave, Deputy Electoral Commissioner Courtney Barron will take leave from the end of this month and is not expected to return, while election operations director Shani Wood has resigned from her role.
It means the commission is now without half of the leadership team it had on polling day at the state election.
The Road Safety Commission's director of innovation and technology, Rebecca Hamilton, was this week appointed to act as deputy electoral commissioner from next month.
The lack of experienced high-level leadership raises concerns about the commission's ability to run local government elections in October.
Mr Michael told parliament on Thursday additional staff would be brought in to ensure those elections ran smoothly.
"The acting electoral commissioner has arranged for two senior officers from the Australian Electoral Commission to join the election operations team as a chief operating officer and a project manager," he said.
"Subject matter experts" from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries would also be brought in to help.
Shadow Electoral Affairs Minister Shane Love said it was "deeply concerning" taxpayers had to fork out an extra $250,000 on top of what they already paid to PersolKelly, which is the labour hire company that election staffing was outsourced to.
"The minister for electoral affairs confirmed in question time this week that the recent payments were made in response to the stress and dysfunction returning officers endured, an extraordinary admission of just how badly the process failed.
"The opposition will be demanding answers during budget estimates this week."
