The 2023 Western Australian local elections were held on 21 October 2023 to elect the councils of 124 of the 137

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

(LGAs) in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Many councils also held mayoral and deputy mayoral elections. Electoral reform saw

optional preferential voting One of the ways in which ranked voting systems vary is whether an individual vote must express a minimum number of preferences to avoid being considered invalid ("spoiled" or "informal" or "rejected"). Possibilities are: * Full preferential vot ...

introduced, and council representation changed to align with the population of the district. Local elections in WA are held periodically, meaning around half of all councillors were not up for election until 2025.

Electoral system

Significant electoral reform was introduced into the state parliament by the McGowan government in February 2023. It saw

(used for local and state elections in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

) introduced, replacing

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

. Up until 2021 in multi-member wards, a voter would get to vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies (known as

plurality voting Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

). Council representation was also changed to align with the population of the district, with council wards abolished for smaller councils. For all larger councils, the mayor or president will now be popularly elected, rather than appointed by councillors. Almost all local elections were conducted via post. Eight councils held in-person elections: * Broome *

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Cocos (Keeling) Islands The Cocos (Keeling) Islands (), officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (; ), are an Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka and rel ...

* Cranbrook * Derby–West Kimberley * East Pilbara *

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

* Serpentine–Jarrahdale

Political parties

Local elections in WA are officially

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

, and the vast majority of candidates and councillors are not members of any political party. The Labor Party confirmed at least 43 of its members were running for council, while the Greens endorsed two candidates. Members of the

Animal Justice Party The Animal Justice Party (AJP) is a political party in Australia founded in 2009 by Steve Garlick. The party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 3 May 2011. The party is also registered in New South Wales, Queenslan ...

Australian Christians Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, with a total of 43.9% of the nation-wide population identifying with a Christian denomination in the 2021 census. The first presence of Christianity in Australia began with British colonisatio ...

, Legalise Cannabis Party, No Mandatory Vaccination Party and Western Australia Party also all contested the elections.

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

members ran without endorsement from their party.

Campaign

The election campaigns in a number of LGAs saw controversies. In

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West (Western Australia), South West region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destin ...

, candidate Stephen Wells was reported to have made

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

anti-semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

comments. In

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

, candidate Mani Singh had his election corflutes stolen and vandalised by a "rogue individual".

Results

Aftermath

The

had their first ever electoral victory, with WA branch president Mike Crichton elected in Rockingham. The

had their first electoral victory in WA, with state party committee member

Amanda Dorn Amanda Dorn is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council for the Animal Justice Party. Political career Amanda Dorn was a councillor in the City of Swan. She was elected in Altone ward at the 202 ...

elected in

. There were 47 instances of an uncontested race, while 17 vacancies were left unfilled.

References

{{Western Australian elections