Election (Caretaker) Period

Councils must comply with special arrangements in the lead up to elections, known as the caretaker period. This is in accordance with the Local Government Act.

Caretaker is the period starting from the last day that nominations to be a candidate for a council election can be received and ends at 6pm on election day.

In 2024, the election period will be from 12noon Tuesday 17 September until 6pm Saturday 26 October 2024.

During this period, Council business is conducted in accordance with our Election Period (Caretaker) Policy to avoid the use of public resources in a way that may unduly affect the election result, and to minimise councils making certain types of decisions that may unduly limit the decision-making ability of the incoming Council.

The Election Period (Caretaker) Policy ensures that all general elections of Mansfield Shire Council are conducted in a manner that is ethical, fair and equitable and are publicly perceived as such.

During the election period: 

• councils are prohibited from making certain types of decisions
• material produced by councils must not contain matter that will affect voting at the election.

Election (Caretaker) Period Policy(PDF, 342KB)