RECENTLY there is clear evidence that local government is far more democratic than our State Government.
It only takes a mayor, a handful of councillors or a council chief executive to call an extraordinary meeting of council but the majority of State MP’s can’t recall Parliament.
To state the obvious, the majority of MP’s represent the majority of South Australians and, in any democracy, the majority view must be respected.
Only the government can recall Parliament but so far it has refused to do so.
The issue at hand is that the majority of politicians want Parliament to resume to allow them to determine how those who are in State sanctioned forced isolation because of Covid-19 can vote in the
upcoming State election.
This week, in Mount Gambier there are about 200 people with Covid-19 and an unknown number of close contacts also in mandatory isolation.
That number people, or should I say votes, could not only decide who wins the seat of Mount Gambier, it could also result in a change of government – depending on who wins the seat.
The Covid-19 mandatory isolation direction is not a direction from the democratically elected parliament but rather the State Coordinator appointed under the Emergency Management Act, in this case the Police Commissioner Grant Stevens.
The intent of the Emergency Management Act is to deal with short-term major emergencies, like flood or fire, not a drawn-out pandemic and certainly not to inadvertently prevent our citizens from voting.
It would be a blight on the rights of individuals not to be able to cast a vote and a blight on a government to allow this to happen.
Election results can be challenged in the Court of Disputed Returns and the Liberal Party has a history of taking this avenue.
The irony might be that the Liberal Party may take this course if it is unsuccessful in regaining the seat of Mount Gambier by a handful of votes.
