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Speaker 1: Now we know that the local council elections, well they're underway.

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Speaker 1: You've probably they're about to get underway. You've probably seen

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Speaker 1: some of those posters popping up, there's quite a few

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Speaker 1: of them around the place. And joining us in the

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Speaker 1: studio right now to tell us a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about it and some of the important dates that we

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Speaker 1: need to be aware of the Northern Territories. Electoral Commissioner

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Speaker 1: Ian Logan Ethan, Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Ian, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Great to have you on the show. And well it

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem like that long ago that we had our

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Speaker 1: last council election, but obviously the time has come again.

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Speaker 2: I look every four years. We're fortunate to have fixed

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Speaker 2: terms elections in the Northern Territory. And the important thing

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Speaker 2: for Terrosurance to remember is that the rolls close at

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Speaker 2: five pm tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: So that means that if you are here in the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, if you live in the territory, you've got

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Speaker 1: to make sure that you're on the electoral roll and

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Speaker 1: that closes tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's correct, and you need to make sure that

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Speaker 2: you're enrolled for your current address. So if you recently moved,

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Speaker 2: you can go online to our website INTC dot NT,

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Speaker 2: dot gov dot au and you can update your enrollment.

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Speaker 1: Do you have any idea if you know, like if

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Speaker 1: the majority of people are actually on the electoral role

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Speaker 1: at the moment. Have we got a fairly good take up.

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Speaker 2: At the moment we have one hundred and forty three

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Speaker 2: thousand people on the electoral role and that compares to

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Speaker 2: one hundred and thirty three thousand at the local government

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Speaker 2: elections in twenty seventeen, so we know that numbers are

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Speaker 2: going up. What we also know is that there are

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Speaker 2: close to twenty thousand territories who should be on the

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Speaker 2: role that aren't and the vast majority of these are

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Speaker 2: in the remote areas.

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Speaker 1: Right, So it is more in those remote areas where

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Speaker 1: people have maybe you know, are not on the role,

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Speaker 1: but is work being under or being undertaken to try

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Speaker 1: and get them on the role as well.

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Speaker 2: We've been working with the Department of Local Government and

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Speaker 2: they've had their field officers traveling to remote communities over

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Speaker 2: the last few months and part of that role is

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Speaker 2: to assist remote electors to make sure that they're correctly enrolled.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it is such an important thing. I mean

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Speaker 1: we saw that after the Northern Tiret Tree election. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's so important to make sure everybody's on the role.

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Speaker 1: So if you haven't updated your details, make sure you

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Speaker 1: do it. You've got till five pm tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Look, that's correct, and again the easiest way to do

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Speaker 2: it is do it online at NTC, dot MT, dot

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Speaker 2: gov dot au so.

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Speaker 1: And the actual council elections they happen on August twenty

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Speaker 1: eight this year, don't they.

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Speaker 2: That's correct, that's that will be election day itself. But

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Speaker 2: again we'll have early voting opening from the sixteenth of

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Speaker 2: August and so people will be able to vote from there.

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Speaker 2: We'll have the usual voting centers in our towns, but

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Speaker 2: we'll also be doing more extended early voting out in

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Speaker 2: remote communities at this.

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Speaker 1: Election, right, So trying our best to make sure that

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Speaker 1: everybody who's on the roll does get the opportunity devotion

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Speaker 1: that it's sort of as simple as possible.

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Speaker 2: Look, the feedback we've been getting from the remote communities

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Speaker 2: and from the councils as we've been talking to them

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Speaker 2: for the last few months is that if people had

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Speaker 2: more opportunity to vote, they're more likely to vote. We've

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Speaker 2: seen that in urban areas there's been a huge uptake

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Speaker 2: in early voting. So if we can provide a similar

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Speaker 2: service in remote communities, hopefully we can increase the numbers

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Speaker 2: there as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, what about with some of the dates in terms

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Speaker 1: of those that are maybe thinking about putting their hand

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Speaker 1: up to run for mayor thinking about maybe putting their

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Speaker 1: hand up to run for one of those Alderman positions,

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Speaker 1: when do they have until to make that decision?

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Speaker 2: Look, think they have until twelve noon on Thursday the

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Speaker 2: fifth of August. Can I also ask anyone who's thinking

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Speaker 2: of nominating, please don't leave it to the last minute,

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Speaker 2: you can't. We cannot accept nominations after this date. Just

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Speaker 2: go on our website. There's a lot of informations there.

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Speaker 2: There's a candidate handbook about all the things that you're

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Speaker 2: required to do, and certainly get in contact with our

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Speaker 2: office now if you're thinking of nominating.

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Speaker 1: And so Thursday the fifth of August is when all

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Speaker 1: of us, I spose, will find out exactly who's decided

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Speaker 1: to run in the Alderman sport or in the mayor

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Speaker 1: spot in the ward that we live in.

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Speaker 2: You'll know on Friday at twelve noon we'll do the

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Speaker 2: declaration of nominations. So in Central Australia that'll be done

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Speaker 2: in Alice Springs and for the rest of the territory

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Speaker 2: that'll be done for mant Darwen office and Ian.

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Speaker 1: Is there any sort of early indications as to whether

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Speaker 1: we're going to see quite large numbers of people put

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Speaker 1: their hand up for these local council elections.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's certainly early on in the peace. But I

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Speaker 2: mean what we know is places like particularly Alice Springs,

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Speaker 2: where there's no Wards, we tend to get quite a

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Speaker 2: few nominations to be a council member down there, and

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Speaker 2: particularly in Darwin traditionally for the mayor position, and then

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Speaker 2: certain Wards that've been quite a number of candidates contesting

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Speaker 2: that election.

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Speaker 1: Well in twenty seventeen, I think was there like Asian

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Speaker 1: people or something who put their hand up for the

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Speaker 1: mayor's job in Darway.

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Speaker 2: Look, yes, there was a close to a Darwin cup

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Speaker 2: field for that position. And look, we obviously don't know

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Speaker 2: what's going to occur. But the message that we have

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Speaker 2: to get to all territories is that you have to

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Speaker 2: number every square in order of your preference, starting with

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Speaker 2: the number one. So what we found at those elections

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Speaker 2: that when we get eighteen to twenty candidates, people are

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Speaker 2: accidentally making mistakes. So just a reminder to just take

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Speaker 2: your time at the ballot box and make sure that

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Speaker 2: you correctly complete the ballot paper.

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Speaker 1: So really, you know, if we end up with a

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Speaker 1: massive field like that, again, the likelihood of people making

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Speaker 1: mistakes then when they go to the ballot box is higher.

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Speaker 2: Look, absolutely, we know that the more candidates there are,

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Speaker 2: the higher the informal voting rate. We'll have messages out

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Speaker 2: in the ballot box just reminding people to obviously number

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Speaker 2: in order of their preference, starting with one, and certainly

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Speaker 2: we'll be having our voting staff as they're giving out

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Speaker 2: the ballot papers just reinforcing that message again.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well we'll try and get you on as well

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Speaker 1: a couple of times before then, so that people are

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Speaker 1: aware of exactly what they need to do, particularly if

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Speaker 1: we end up with those larger fields as well. I

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Speaker 1: know that for us here or mix, you know, we'll

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Speaker 1: be keeping a very close eye on the rural area.

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Speaker 1: Obviously Palmerston and Darwin Catherine as well, I would imagine,

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Speaker 1: do they yep, Yes, So it's really all around the place,

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Speaker 1: all around the territory.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's all around the area, all around the territory.

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Speaker 2: You know. The only parts that are excluded are the

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Speaker 2: unincorporated areas, and that includes norm Boy, that includes Yolara,

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Speaker 2: and it also includes the waterfront, which always causes some confusion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what happens with those that do live down at

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Speaker 1: the waterfront. They don't get to vote, that's correct. So

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Speaker 1: they so I guess they don't sort of have their

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Speaker 1: say on who's going to be the mayor or who's

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Speaker 1: going to be the alderman in those areas.

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Speaker 2: They don't get to vote in these elections because they're

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Speaker 2: in an unincorporated area.

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Speaker 1: But they do. They still though for the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: They still obviously do for the Northern Territory election.

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Speaker 2: They vote in territory elections, and they vote in federal elections.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but just not the not the council, that's correct.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll get a few calls about that, I

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Speaker 1: and no doubt about it. Well, I'm fair enough. I

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Speaker 1: suppose people, you know, want to make sure that they

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Speaker 1: have their voices heard. It is always good to catch

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Speaker 1: up with you. I really appreciate your time, and no

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Speaker 1: doubt we'll be talking to you again quite a bit

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Speaker 1: before the council elections.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you