The Tasmanian Premier advocates that voting at Local Government elections in Tasmania should become compulsory.
Over many years this issue has been discussed regularly at Local Government Association of Tasmania meetings, and has repeatedly been rejected as unnecessary and not warranted.
Furthermore, the devil is in the detail as always. If you own land in Hobart but live in Kentish, should voting in Hobart elections be compulsory? If you rent a house in Kentish should you have to vote here?
Failure to vote incurs a $20 fine. I could imagine that Councils would be very unpopular if they sent out fines for this.
I think we do not need compulsory voting.
What do you think?
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Urban councils in Tasmania consistently have low voter turnouts. The push for compulsory voting comes from Hobart where there is little interest in local government by ratepayers. The Premier is keen to increase voter turnout in these urban councils.
Kentish has consistently higher than average voter turnout.
Compulsory voting will annoy people, especially the $20 fine. Leave the system how it is. Urban councils should consider how they can perk the interests of their ratepayers. A controversial issue does wonders for voter turnout.
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