Speak Up for Joondalup
Have your say about who represents you in your local area!
Local government elections are a vital part of Western Australia’s democratic system. The next Ordinary Postal Election will be held on Saturday 21 October 2023. The City’s elections are conducted as postal elections that are run by the Western Australian Electoral Commission.
Election packages are posted to all electors on the electoral rolls used for the election, approximately three weeks before election day. Each person enrolled to vote on the City’s electoral roll will be issued a ballot package by mail which will provide details and instructions on how to vote. These need to be returned by mail by 21 October 2023.
You can personally deliver your completed election package to:
– the City of Joondalup Administration Office ballot box during business hours 8.30am – 5.00pm or
– the Joondalup Reception Centre on Saturday 21 October, between 8.00am and 6.00pm.
Local Government Elections 2023
The Mayor and Councillors are each elected for four-year terms, with half of the elected members being elected every biennial election. The 2023 election is not a Mayoral election, and the election will fill the following vacancies:
View the 2023 Candidate Profiles
Reform of the Local Government Act 1995 and the October 2023 elections
The State Government is reforming the Local Government Act 1995 (the Act). The reforms are aimed at ensuring local governments better serve residents and ratepayers. The reforms have been crafted in consultation with the local government sector. They are the most significant reforms to the sector in 25 years.
The key electoral reforms that will be implemented for the October 2023 elections are:
- introducing optional preferential voting, bringing local government elections back in line with State and Federal elections and restoring the right of electors to express preferences
- requiring public election of the mayor or president for all larger councils (this is already being done at the City of Joondalup. However, there is no Mayoral election in 2023).
- changes in representation including aligning the size of councils with the size of the population of each local government area (no changes required for the City of Joondalup).
Changes to the current wards
In accordance with the Local Government Act 1995, Council was required to undertake a review of its ward names, boundaries and councillor representation levels by 10 December 2021. The review considered current ward boundaries, the number of wards, current names of wards, and the number of Councillors to represent each ward.
As part of the community consultation, the City received 72 submissions that, in the main, supported the retention of the current six-ward structure, the retention of current Councillor representation levels per ward, and the retention of the current ward names. The new ward structure will, however, result in some suburbs moving to a different ward. View the New Ward Structure map.
The suburbs affected by the ward structure review are as follows:
- Iluka moves to North-Central Ward
- Mullaloo moves to Central Ward
- Kallaroo moves to South-West Ward
- Padbury moves to South Ward
- Warwick moves to South-East Ward
Visit the Voting in local government elections page for more information.