Hefty rise to SA election voting chief’s $300,000 pay packet revealed

As the state’s new pollies are sworn in today after weeks of vote-counting controversy, Mike Smithson reveals the two chiefs in charge of polling booths won a hefty pay rise just before the March election.

Bipartisanship isn’t always experienced in the cut and thrust of politics, but all sides have a common and collegiate view, which now confirms an all-time low point.

Everyone has jumped on the need for a warts-and-all independent review into the Electoral Commission of South Australia after its massive failings.

The result of another review hasn’t received the same publicity.

That’s the hefty pay rise ECSA boss Mick Sherry received just three months ago.

I’ve been critical of ECSA in recent weeks, but that’s been brought into sharper focus in the past 24 hours.

How on earth has it taken 44 days to decide the composition of parliament’s Upper House, which had 11 positions up for re-election on March 21?

Aside from hundreds of lower house votes going missing soon after the election and the mystery surrounding ECSA’s commissioner, who is now on extended leave, the lateness of this result is unfair to MPs who’ve been left hanging in the balance.

The commission says it has no say in deciding when parliament resumes – therefore, don’t apportion blame for the time taken to count votes.

ECSA was virtually given an open cheque book to get it right in this year’s election and, in my view, has dismally failed on many key metrics.

The new parliamentary term resumes today, less than a day after those awaiting results were officially informed whether they even had a job.

The importance of the issue and the........

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