18 June 2008

Young people, especially those who speak a community language, will have an opportunity to play an important role in delivering democracy to the people of New South Wales.

The NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) has begun a recruitment drive for approximately 11,500 casual staff to work at polling places during the 2008 local government elections on Saturday, 13 September.

“This is a great opportunity for young people who are on the electoral roll and looking for casual work to help in the administration of one of the State’s most important democratic events,” said NSW Electoral Commissioner Colin Barry.

“We are particularly interested in bilingual people who speak a community language such as Cantonese, Arabic, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Spanish, Hindi, Korean, Tagalog and Macedonian.”

People who worked at the 2007 state or federal election will be contacted by email or SMS text message in early June to invite them to register an expression of interest for casual employment. Those without previous elections experience can now lodge an expression of interest through the commission’s website (elections.nsw.gov.au). Successful applicants will receive an offer of employment in August 2008.

Casual staff will be employed as election officials at one of 2,200 polling place locations on Election Day.

Their main duties will be to issue ballot papers to electors, act as ballot box guards, scrutiny assistants and help the returning officer with the count of ballot papers after voting closes.

“This is a unique opportunity to work behind the scenes of an election and to be paid for it.
Election Officials can earn over $300 by working on Election Day. Other rates will depend on the type of work and number of hours on duty.”

The NSWEC will put in place robust arrangements to ensure the elections are consistent across the state and conducted to the same high standard as a state and federal election.

More information on employment is available through www.elections.nsw.gov.au or by calling the NSWEC’s hotline on 1300 135 736.

Media Contact:  Adrian Kerr, Corporate Communications
(02) 9290 5954  adrian.kerr@elections.nsw.gov.au