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Mr ANDREW HUMPHERSON (Davidson) [4.38 p.m.]: I wish to comment on the recent council elections. I am delighted with the election results for the Ku-ring-gai Council. I am pleased to commend Councillor Elaine Malicki, Councillor Anita Andrew, Councillor Adrienne Ryan, Councillor Michael Lane, Councillor Maureen Shelley, Councillor Graeme Innes, Councillor Laura Bennett, Councillor Tony Hall, Councillor Ian Cross, and Councillor Nick Ebbeck. I congratulate particularly the newly elected councillors and I feel confident that, given their attitudes—I know a number of them quite well—they will work first and foremost in the best interests of the people of Ku-ring-gai and importantly will work together as a team to overcome some of the dysfunction that has characterised the workings of the council over the past 4½ years.
I acknowledge the councillors who did not stand for re-election, Councillors Ian De Velde, Ted Roach and Andrea Little, and council candidates who were unsuccessful, Janine Kitson, Bruce Coleman and Elisa Keys. Whilst from time to time I have disagreed with a number of the councillors, I commend them for their contributions. Theirs was a worthwhile contribution on behalf of their fellow citizens and local communities. They are to be commended for giving of their time and making every effort to make their communities a better place for all.
In the aftermath of elections it is worth noting that the outcome in Ku-ring-gai is very much a reflection of the winner-take-all voting system, in that if a group of candidates receives more than 50 per cent of the votes or a large proportion of the votes cast above the line, inevitably the candidates in that column are elected. Whilst that is good for those who are successful, in my view it is not entirely democratic. I would suggest to the council that at some stage of its current four-year term it have a good look at the voting system. I, and I know the honourable member for Ku-ring-gai, would be supportive of a review and reform of the system to make it more democratic, so there is greater potential for more proportional representation. One suggestion that I think has merit is that, rather than having five wards of two councillors, there be three wards of three councillors, with a popularly elected mayor. That would maintain the current number of councillors. As I have said, whilst I do not always see eye to eye with all elected to councils, I think such a system would produce a council that is broadly more representative of the Ku-ring-gai community.
I would like to comment briefly on the Warringah Council constitutional referendum on the election of its councillors and mayor. I was pleased with the determination that voters will have a chance to elect the mayor of Warringah on the next occasion on which there is an election. I think that is a sensible decision, and that it generally will result in a better outcome for the office of mayor and give voters and ratepayers more of a say in council matters. I am pleased that the ward system will be retained. However, I am disappointed that there was not a more positive resolution of the referendum questions regarding increasing, maintaining, or reducing the number of councillors. The poll was fairly evenly divided between those who want the number of councillors reduced and those who wanted the number to remain the same. However, the question about a popularly-elected mayor was quite ambiguous because it identified that there would be an increase of one in the number of councillors. This is a matter that future Warringah councillors could look at.
Lastly, I would comment on the Government's intentions with regard to Warringah Council. I note that today the Minister for Health announced that the Warringah Civic Centre site is a preferred location for a new northern beaches hospital or a new Manly hospital. Whilst I agree that that is a central site and is appropriate for the wider Warringah and Manly parts of the northern beaches, I am a little concerned by the coincidence that the announcement was made while an administrator is managing the affairs of Warringah. I seek some assurances—although whatever those assurances might be, I will still view them with some scepticism—as to whether there is an intention at some time in the next 18 months or so to divide Warringah and include parts of it in the Manly area and other parts of it in the Pittwater area.
Those in the western Warringah area of the Davidson electorate would have some misgivings about whichever area they could end up going to, because the proposal for a new hospital site will see the demise of the existing civic centre, and that may provide an ideal opportunity for the State Government to dispense with the services of Warringah as a stand-alone council. That possibility is heightened by the lack of information and contact from Dick Person, the administrator, and Steve Christie, the Northern Area Health Service chair, who failed to communicate with the State members but did so with Federal members of Parliament. [Time expired.]