In the hope to clear some things up, here is an explanation…

The New South Wales Parliament has two houses, the Legislative Assembly (or Lower House), and the Legislative Council, (Upper House).

The Legislative Assembly has some important differences from the Legislative Council:

• The government is the party that enjoys the confidence of the Legislative Assembly;

• Bills to impose taxes or spend public money may only be initiated in the Legislative Assembly;

• The Legislative Council cannot prevent the passage of a bill for “the ordinary annual services of Government; and

• If the Legislative Council fails to pass a bill from the Legislative Assembly, that bill may become law after being agreed to by the majority of the people at a referendum.

The Legislative Assembly has four main roles: to represent the people; to form the Executive Government for New South Wales; to legislate; and to approve the government’s request for money.

The Legislative Assembly consists of 93 members, each representing an electoral district. Moree’s electoral district is the Northern Tablelands, and was previously Barwon.

The candidates nominated are: Holly Beecham (Christian Democratic Party), Trevor Gay (No Land Tax), Mercurius Goldstein (Greens), David Mailler (Independent), Adam Marshall (Nationals) and Debra O’Brien (Labor).

The name of each candidate and their political party affiliation (if applicable) is listed on the ballot paper. In order for a vote to be valid, voters must place the number “1” in the square next to the name of the candidate who is their first choice. Voters then have the option of allocating further preferences by placing consecutive numbers, beginning with the number “2”, in the squares next to the names of additional candidates.

In the Legislative Council, 21 of the 42 seats will be contested. You can vote for anyone within the state on this ballot paper. 

There is a long list of candidates to vote for which you can find online but a few of the locals include Moree’s Hollie Hughes, Gurley’s Penny Blatchford and Boggabilla’s Peter Mailler.

The names of the candidates are shown on the ballot paper. If they are endorsed by a registered political party, the name of that party is also shown.

The Legislative Council ballot paper has a thick line running across it. There are squares above this line and squares below it. The squares above the line represent the groups of people listed below the line. There are two ways you can fill this ballot paper in. You can vote for a group by filling in squares above the line or you can vote by filling in squares below the line.

If you choose to vote above the line, you must put a number ‘1’ in one of the squares above the thick horizontal line. By doing this you are voting for that whole group of candidates in the descending order they are listed below that square. That is all you have to do. But if you want, you can show your second choice of group and more choices if you want, by putting a number ‘2’, then ‘3’ and so on in the squares above the line.

If you do not want to vote for a whole group but for individual candidates, you may choose to vote below the line.

You must put a number ‘1’ in one of the squares below the line. Then you must put the number ‘2’, then the number ‘3’ – all the way to number ‘15’. You must number 15 squares below the line, from 1 to 15, for your vote to be counted. You can put more numbers starting with 16 if you want to show more choices.

Redistribution: The redistribution of electoral boundaries means Moree moves from Barwon to the Northern Tablelands. The Northern Tablelands electorate is 53,154 square kilometres that runs from the New England to the North West slopes, from Armidale to Moree. It takes in seven local government areas, the current member if Adam Marshall.

The Barwon electorate now starts further west and south, still taking in communities such as Collarenebri and Bellata while the electorate extends west as far as Broken Hill. Moree residents will no longer vote for the current member, Kevin Humphries. He is standing against Craig Ashby (Labor), Rohan Boehm (Independent), Cameron Jones (Greens), Nella Lopreiato (No Land Tax) and Ian Hutchinson (Christian Democratic Party).

Where to vote: Polling places will be open from 8am until 6pm on election day. If you are outside your electorate for this period of time, see which early voting options you are eligible for or you can absentee vote at any polling place on Saturday.

Local locations: Ashley Community Hall, Bellata Hall, Boggabilla Central School, Boomi Public School, Collarenebri Central School, Croppa Creek Public School, Garah Public School, Gravesend Public Hall, Moree Memorial Hall, Moree PCYC, Moree Secondary College (Albert Street), Mungindi Memorial Hall, North Star Public School, Pallamallawa Public School and Toomelah Public School.

To find out more information on how to vote including the nominated candidates visit www.votensw.info/