HAWKESBURY Council debated the prospect of moving toward a ward system for the next Council elections at its latest meeting.
With Council elections scheduled for September 10, Hawkesbury Mayor Kim Ford told the councillors at the May 31 meeting the decision to move from 12 representatives for the Hawkesbury as a whole to a ward system needed to be discussed.
Cr Ford said he was open to investigate whether a ward system would better represent the Hawkesbury.
“The [state] government is really interested in having wards and it is probably worth us looking,” he said.
“My feeelings are that wards tend to give the local people ownership of their problems.
“That is one of the complaints that we do get, the fact that people feel left out because there is no Councillor living in their area.”
Cr Paul Rasmussen said the Hawkesbury had not had wards for a long time and for good reason and Cr Barry Calvert said they created more problems than they solved, while Cr Bob Porter said wards were fantastic in the Colo Shire days.
Cr Leigh Williams said he was not in favour of them, because they led to more centralised power in one party.
“We now have a party system in the Council system, which is not a good idea in the eyes of some people but nevertheless that is what we have,” he said.
“Every ward election is an election in its own right, and you will probably end up with more liberals rather than less.
“I don't think that is a good thing whether you look at Labor or Liberal. I don't think it is conducive to having a healthy local democracy.”
Cr Patrick Conolly said if the state government wanted councils to move toward a ward system, Hawkesbury would be well served to pay heed and shift that way.
“I think the key focus here is to make us more like a standardised council the state government wants,” he said.
“We're going to stand out and be an obvious target for amalgamation in the future.”
