Queensland Consolidated Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2009 - SECT 166A

166A Filling particular vacancies arising during beginning of local government’s term

(1) This section applies if, under section 166 (1) (a) , a local government is to fill the vacant office of a councillor (the
"former councillor" ) by following the procedure under this section.

(2) The chief executive officer must ask the electoral commission to comply with subsection (3) .

(3) The electoral commission must—

(a) give a vacancy notice to the runner-up who is first in the order of priority; and

(b) if consent is not given by the runner-up on or before the deadline, give a vacancy notice to the runner-up who is next in the order of priority; and

(c) if consent is not given by the runner-up who is next in the order of priority on or before the deadline, repeat the step mentioned in paragraph (b) until a runner-up consents to the appointment on or before the deadline for the runner-up.

(4) If a runner-up consents to the appointment on or before the deadline for the runner-up—

(a) the electoral commission must notify the chief executive officer that the runner-up has consented; and

(b) the local government must fill the vacant office by appointing the runner-up.

(5) If there are no runners-up remaining, the vacant office must be filled by a by-election.

(6) The electoral commission may agree to extend the day and time stated in a vacancy notice if the electoral commission considers it reasonable to do so in the circumstances.

(7) For deciding the order of priority, if 2 or more runners-up in a quadrennial election have an equal number of votes—

(a) the electoral commission must, in the presence of 2 witnesses, follow the process stated in the Local Government Electoral Act , section 98 (7) (a) to (g) and (8) for the runners-up; and

(b) the runner-up whose name is recorded as mentioned in section 98 (7) (g) of that Act is taken to be higher in the order of priority; and

(c) the process mentioned in paragraph (a) must be repeated until the order of priority for each runner-up has been decided.

(8) The electoral commission must allow each runner-up mentioned in subsection (7) , or their representative, to be present for the process mentioned in that subsection.

(9) In this section—

"deadline" , in relation to a runner-up giving consent, means—

(a) the day and time stated in a vacancy notice given to the runner-up; or

(b) if the day and time is extended under subsection (6) —the day and time as extended.

"order of priority" , for runners-up in a quadrennial election, means the order of runners-up ranked according to the number of votes received by each runner-up in the election, starting with the runner-up who received the highest number of votes in the election.

"runner-up" , for a vacant office of a councillor, means a person who was a candidate for the office in the last quadrennial election, other than—

(a) the former councillor; or

(b) a person who holds office as a councillor (including as the mayor) when the office becomes vacant.

"vacancy notice" , in relation to a runner-up, means a notice stating—

(a) that the office of a councillor is vacant; and

(b) if the runner-up is qualified to be a councillor, the runner-up may consent to being appointed to the vacant office; and

(c) the day and time by which consent must be given to the electoral commission.