Hefty rise to SA election voting chief’s $300,000 pay packet revealed
As the state’s new pollies are sworn in today after weeks of vote-counting controversy, Mike Smithson reveals the two chiefs in charge of polling booths won a hefty pay rise just before the March election.
Bipartisanship isn’t always experienced in the cut and thrust of politics, but all sides have a common and collegiate view, which now confirms an all-time low point.
Everyone has jumped on the need for a warts-and-all independent review into the Electoral Commission of South Australia after its massive failings.
The result of another review hasn’t received the same publicity.
That’s the hefty pay rise ECSA boss Mick Sherry received just three months ago.
I’ve been critical of ECSA in recent weeks, but that’s been brought into sharper focus in the past 24 hours.
How on earth has it taken 44 days to decide the composition of parliament’s Upper House, which had 11 positions up for re-election on March 21?
Aside from hundreds of lower house votes going missing soon after the election and the mystery surrounding ECSA’s commissioner, who is now on extended leave, the lateness of this result is unfair to MPs who’ve been left hanging in the balance.
The commission says it has no say in deciding when parliament resumes – therefore, don’t apportion blame for the time taken to count votes.
ECSA was virtually given an open cheque book to get it right in this year’s election and, in my view, has dismally failed on many key metrics.
The new parliamentary term resumes today, less than a day after those awaiting results were officially informed whether they even had a job.
The importance of the issue and the delay is highlighted by Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven carrying on in her job regardless, despite being kept in the dark on results for a month and a half.
Her difficult fifth spot on Labor’s Upper House ticket was always going to be a stressful game of patience.
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Until the ECSA computer spat out her victory yesterday, she could have been packing her bags today and removing the ministerial sign from her office door.
I contend there’s potentially questionable behaviour within ECSA, which should have the highest integrity of any bureaucratic instrumentality in the state.
It was given a substantial budget increase with almost $37 million available to mobilise and manage 8000 staff across 700 voting booths.
We now know that booths were understaffed or not staffed at all and One Nation volunteers were allegedly enlisted to help count votes in one electorate.
For that to happen is unforgivable.
So, where did the money go and why didn’t anyone in power see the warning signs months ago?
The commissioner was dangling a carrot for anyone wanting a well-paid polling booth officer position just weeks before the election.
Those jobs should have been locked and loaded months ago.
Will we ever see the balance sheet to justify why an increased and record budget was required to deliver the worst election fiasco in the state’s history?
ECSA says in due course.
Are there funds left over and will they be returned to taxpayers?
Respected investigator and former federal electoral commissioner Tom Rogers will lead the charge into what went so wrong.
His initial budget is $200,000 but I will bet it climbs beyond that, just adding to the ongoing cost of this shemozzle.
I was interested to attend yesterday’s button-pushing ceremony to witness the 2026 election epilogue.
It’s usually a tense affair for upper house candidates, but there was more attention on ECSA personnel and whether they would provide some further explanation or continue to hide behind a veil of opaque secrecy.
The ongoing and unexplained leave of Sherry continues unabated.
Official documents show that on February 4 this year, the SA Remuneration Tribunal (SART) granted him an 11.36 per cent pay rise, bringing his annual salary to $325,000 plus superannuation.
It was originally slated for a meagre four per cent increase, which applied to others such as the Auditor-General.
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But Sherry’s submission to SART focussed on his additional work demands resulting from changes to the Electoral (Accountability and Integrity) Amendment Bill 2024.
His personal cash-call revolved around the complexities of per-vote funding, new audit responsibilities and the creation of additional offences which he must enforce.
He already had substantial extra commission funds to cope with these demands and staff numbers were also ramped up by 24 per cent.
Even so, SART concluded, “the increase in complexity (of his job) warrants a further increase.”
But with his new pay packet, Sherry is still nowhere to be seen, with official proceedings again left to his deputy, Acting Commissioner Leah McLay, who has, coincidentally, received the same pay rise.
On the issue of his leave and if, and when, he will return to face the music, the answers are scarce.
“The commissioner is on leave, I don’t have a return date and I won’t comment further,” was McLay’s considered response yesterday.
“I’m not in a position to comment on his personal circumstances.”
But surely Sherry and McLay will both be central to the upcoming review and must be fully available and co-operative with whatever Rogers needs.
It seems certain that the buck will have to stop somewhere within ECSA’s hierarchy, but where?
I asked McLay if her head or Sherry’s are now on the line?
“I will participate personally in the review process and I welcome the review,” she said.
Newly elected One Nation MLC Cory Bernardi was far more forthright with his election assessment.
“This has been a stuff-up from start to finish,” he said.
“Parliament sits tomorrow (Tuesday) and the only thing we’ve heard from the Electoral Commission is how they failed to do their job.
“A whole bunch of new legislative councillors are going to be scrambling to be ready for parliamentary duties.”
So now that the result is finally done and dusted, let the games begin.
One Nation has already flagged that it will become a force to be reckoned with.
The lower and upper houses may experience shockwaves that have rarely shaken parliament’s Corinthian pillars to this extent before.
It’s only day one, but there’ll rarely be a dull moment over the next four years and beyond.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7 News.
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