Regional SA council election up in the air
An Outback council may not be involved in next year’s elections, almost eight years after being plunged into administration.
Coober Pedy Council may not participate in April’s council elections, as an extension to its administration in is the works.
It was expected to participate in the 2027 local government elections after years of administrators at the helm managing debt.
But a bill introduced in parliament in September would delay the transition out of administration indefinitely.
Coober Pedy District Council was suspended in 2019 by the former Marshall Liberal government after rising debt and maladministration findings.
Local Government Minister Rhiannon Pearce told InDaily the government was “committed to finding a solution that will work for the Coober Pedy community in the long term following findings of serious mismanagement and maladministration at Coober Pedy Council”.
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“I believe it is in the very best interests of the Coober Pedy community that the matters of debt and the delivery of essential services are resolved as much as possible.
“While no final decision has been made on when Coober Pedy Council will exit administration, the bill before State Parliament provides the flexibility required for this to occur outside of the electoral cycle and with the option of a hybrid model, similar to what is in place in other jurisdictions.”
Coober Pedy Council was the only SA council responsible for delivering water and electricity services. By the end of 2026, SA Water will take over water delivery, and discussions are ongoing with the Department of Energy and Mining for electricity supply.
Administrator Patrick Conlon told InDaily it was “wise” to disconnect the question of coming out of administration from the timeline of the upcoming elections.
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“I think that’s wise because after this many years, you want to get it right more than worry about it coinciding with an election timetable,” Conlon said.
“The light is at the end of the tunnel; we can see a solution. It’s a matter of bedding down the detail around water and electricity, and there are complexities around those things.
“I firmly believe that by early next year we should have all the pieces in place to come out of administration.
“But the issue will be then for the state government to decide what sort of structure it should be. There will be a reluctance to simply have a council that goes back to running its affairs the way it was in the past. That obviously wouldn’t be at all satisfactory.”
Pearce told Parliament in September that, “When the council was placed into administration, the Local Government Act provided that the maximum period a council could be in administration was 12 months”.
“As members would recall, the council’s maximum period of administration was first extended in 2019 and then again in 2022, and this reflects the seriousness and the complexity of the council’s circumstances, particularly its responsibility for the delivery of both municipal services and essential services,” she said at the time.
Federal member for Grey, the electorate including Coober Pedy, Tom Venning said yesterday it was a “disappointing setback” that there was “no clear date” for Coober Pedy to return to council elections.
“Coober Pedy has waited long enough. The people of this community deserve certainty, and they deserve to have their voice back,” Venning said.
“If there are genuine outstanding issues around water, electricity, debt or the council’s financial position, the community deserves to know exactly what they are and what needs to happen to resolve them.”
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