Compulsory Voting

It was with regret that I read in today's paper that the Local Government Association rejected , at it's Annual General Meeting, recommending not moving to compulsory voting in local government elections. The motion put by Adelaide City Council was defeated 52:50. If we ever want the other levels of government and our residents to take us seriously and start to show a genuine interest in local government then compulsory voting is essential. In Unley, in Nov 2006, as few as 25% of eligible voters cast a ballot. In Goodwood South there were approx. 1200 formal votes cast for Councillors out of 5000 voters on the electoral roll!!