The government has been criticised for not consulting with Tasmanian councils and the broader community ahead of the introduction of legislation to enforce compulsory voting in local government elections.
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Local Government Minister Nic Street tabled the bill to enable compulsory voting and simplified preferential voting in Parliament on Tuesday for debate next week.
"It's a strange anomaly that we don't require people to vote with local government elections while it's implausible at state and federal elections," he said.
"It sends a message that decisions made at local council level are somehow not as important."
Should the legislation pass, failure to vote in a future council election will attract a $34.60 fine.
If a fine notice is not responded to, the fine is increased to $69.20.
A government spokesperson confirmed voting would still be done via post.
About 58 per cent of eligible voting Tasmanians cast ballots in the 2018 local government elections.
Local Government Association of Tasmania president Christina Holmdahl said the sector supported compulsory voting, but expressed disappointment it hadn't been consulted with before the legislation was introduced.
"We have not recently considered the issue of compulsory voting in local government elections, and while the proposal may increase participation in local democracy, this change comes with some risks and importantly councils have not had sufficient time to consider the implications of such significant change," she said.
Labor's local government spokeswoman Anita Dow said community consultation should have been undertaken, but the party agreed with the legislation.
She said broader action was required in the sector to address cultural issues within councils.
Greens local government spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff said other reforms besides compulsory voting were needed before October's local government elections.
"At a minimum, this bill should also include reforms to require a person to be an Australian citizen to be eligible to vote, and to introduce caretaker provisions for local government elections," she said.
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