Rodney Stevens
Four first time Councillors and five incumbents have been elected by the 41,897 enrolled voters in the Clarence Valley 2024 Local Government Election, while 6836 people enrolled in the area failed to vote.
The newly elected Clarence Valley councillors for the next four years are Cristie Yager, Peter Johnstone, Greg Clancy, Ray Smith, Shane Causley, Allison Whaites, Lynne Cairns, Debrah Novak, and Karen Toms.
Distribution of preferences began at 12.45pm on Monday, which saw incumbent councillor Karen Toms, who was trailing Grafton’s Amanda Brien by 121 votes before preferences were distributed, elected by a slim margin for the second consecutive election.
Ulmarra’s Cristie Yager maintained the lead she established on September 14 election night and was first elected, securing 14.99 per-cent or 4,773 of the total 31,834 formal first preference votes.
Incumbent Mayor Peter Johnstone was elected second with 12.04 per-cent or 3832 formal first preference votes.
Former Deputy Mayor and incumbent Greens councillor Greg Clancy was elected third with 9.42 per-cent or 2,998 formal first preference votes.
The fourth person elected was former Grafton City Council General Manager, Ray Smith with 7.81 per-cent or 2,486 formal first preference votes.
The son of former Federal Member for Page, Ian Causley, and first-time councillor Shane was elected fifth with 7.64 per-cent or 2,432 formal first preference votes.
Incumbent councillor and Grafton real-estate agent Allison Whaites was the sixth person elected with 7.28 per-cent or 2,318 formal first preference votes.
First time councillor, Yamba resident Lynne Cairns was the seventh person elected with 6.46 per-cent or 2057 formal first preference votes.
Yamba’s Debrah Novak was elected eighth to her third consecutive term as a councillor with 5.95 per-cent or 1,893 formal first preference votes.
A councillor since 2008, Karen Toms was the ninth person elected over 10th placed Amanda Brien, securing 4.51 per-cent or 1,435 formal first preference votes compared to 4.89 per-cent or 1,556 formal first preference votes for Mrs Brien, but after preference were distributed this saw Mrs Toms elected by a margin of just 30 votes.
Of the 41,897 voters enrolled in the Clarence Valley Local Government Area, 35,061 ballots were counted by the NSW Electoral Commission, a turnout of 83.68 per-cent of enrolled voters.
With a fine of $55 for each enrolled voter who didn’t lodge a ballot, the NSW Electoral Commission could reap a potential $375,980 in fines from the 6836 people who failed to vote.
Although 3,227 or 9.20 per-cent of the 35,061 votes lodged in the Clarence Valley Local Government Area were informal, and not counted in the final results, this was the lowest informal voting turnout on the NSW North Coast, with 17.91 per-cent or 4,787 of Lismore ballots declared informal, 21.55 per-cent or 10,623 of Coffs Harbour ballots declared informal, 24.58 per-cent or 4,819 of Byron Shire ballots declared informal, and 28.63 per-cent or 4,163 of Richmond Valley ballots declared informal.
In the 2016 Clarence Valley Local Government Election there were 39,070 people enrolled and 31,671 voted, a turnout of 81.06 per-cent, with 6.20 per-cent of votes declared informal.
The number of informal votes increased in the 2021 Clarence Valley Local Government election with 7.14 per-cent of ballots of the 33,019 counted declared informal from an enrolment of 38,544 where 85.67 per-cent of people enrolled voted.
The newly elected Clarence Valley councillors are scheduled to begin training about Council’s policies and procedures, the councillor Code of Conduct and Code of Meeting Practice on Friday, October 4, and continue on October 8 and 9.
On October 17, at 3pm, the first meeting of the newly elected Council is scheduled for 3pm at the Grafton Council Chambers.
There the nine elected candidates will take an oath and be officially sworn in as councillors, then they will elect a Mayor and Deputy Mayor for the next two years and adopt positions in relation to matters relating to the establishment of the Council – nominating which Council committees they would like to serve on.
To see the comprehensive Clarence Valley election results visit https://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/LG2401/clarence-valley/councillor