NT Electoral Commissioner Kirsten Kelly explains the process ahead of the Nightcliff by-election

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us live on the line is the Northern Territory
Electoral Commissioner, Kirsten Kelly.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Good morning to your commissioner.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
I'm sorry to keep you waiting now, Commissioner.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
The Nightcliff by election, Well, everybody is wondering and waiting
to see when it's going to be called.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
What's the process from your perspective.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
So the Anti Electoral Commission is waiting for the writ
to be issued. So the writ authorizes the Anti Electric
Commission to conduct the election in accordance with the Electoral
Act and the resignation of the sitting member is managed
in accordance with the Northern Territory Self Government Act. So
once the Administrator issues that writ, that will authorize the
Anti Electoral Commission to conduct that by election.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
And Kirstin, is that usually something that happens fairly quickly.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
It does happen quite quickly, and I was doing some
research last last night the Fanny for Bay by election.
Fanny Bay by election in twenty twenty two, there was
a day between the resignation and the issue of the writ.
So it can happen quite quickly, and it's important for
the NTI Electric Commission to be ready to deliver that
election when that writ is issued.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, and then I guess you guys just snap into it.
Is there any sort of idea how you know what
date it might happen or how long these things usually
sort of you know how long usually we wait, I
suppose before working out the date.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
So once the writ is issued, the election day occurs
twenty four days after that? Really? Sorry?

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, yep, sorry to mention that.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
So twenty four days all right, So I guess it's
all going to be quite quick. What do you guys
need to do to make sure everything's organized and to
get things lined up?

Speaker 2 (01:35):
You've only just come out of council elections and all.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
The rest of it, so certainly busy time. And we
do appreciate having fixed date general elections in the Northern Territory,
which will allows us every four years to know exactly
when the writs issued. But it's important that we remain
ready to deliver elections when they do arrive. So a
lot of the work now is planning and logistics, So
getting ready to deliver communications plans, logistically, looking to find

(02:00):
venues for early voting and election day voting services, getting
ready to procure ballot papers and materials to deliver the
election and engaging our amazing casual workforce to support the election.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
And generally, you know, then people need to obviously we
need people to put their hands up to run. What
kind of time will they have, I guess to determine
whether they want to put their name forward?

Speaker 3 (02:20):
Yes, So when the writ is issued, that's the singles
the day for the nomination's opening, and so seven days
after that, at twelve noon, the nominations close. So it
is quite a short period of time for people. So
when the writs issued, nominations open, we certainly encourage people
who are interested in becoming a candidate to at that
time go to the website where we'll launch an event

(02:40):
page for the election and that will have resources to
support candidates understanding their rights and responsibilities.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Commissioner, how much does a buy election generally cost? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Having a look at the twenty twenty two f Annybay
by election, and this is all public information available on
the ANTE Electrical Commission website, it's around one hundred and
fifty dollars excluding GST back in twenty twenty two, so
we're expecting that it'll be around if not more than that,
given the majority of our costs are employee related costs.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah right, and I would imagine you've got to bring
in quite quite the casual workforce really to get all
of this underway.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yes, so not as much as general election as you
can appreciate. But we've got just under six thousand enrolled
elections in Nightcliffe, so we want to make sure that
we've got voting services available to support them, and then
the count teams as well well.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Northern Territory Electoral Commissioner Kirsten Kelly, I always appreciate your time,
probably talk to you again over the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
I reckon no trouble, Katie kid. I just please and
just encourage anyone living in the Nightcliff Division to check
their enrollment now so the closer roles happens the day
after the issue of the writ, but i'd certainly encourage
residents living in Nightcliff's if they're not sure if they're
correctly enrolled, please go to the Anti Electoral Commission website
the Australian Electoral Commission website to confirm you're correctly enrolled

(03:56):
because the day after the RITS issued that role will close.
It's really important that you're correctly enrolled, so do it quickly.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Make sure that you're jumping online and doing that asap.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Really appreciate that that would be great.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, good on your custon. Thanks so much for your
time this morning.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Thank you, thank you,