Cadwell to fill council vacancy

ST ALBANS PARK resident Melissa Cadwell will be the City of Greater Geelong’s newest councillor after emerging victorious in a countback this week.

Cr Cadwell will replace Sarah Mansfield as a Brownbill ward councillor for the remainder of the current term, after Ms Mansfield was elected to State Parliament’s upper house in November.

The Victorian Electoral Commission ran a countback of 2020 votes yesterday to fill the vacancy, with Ms Cadwell winning the recount and accepting the new role late yesterday.

She finished fifth on first preference votes at the 2020 elections, with 11.9 per cent of the vote.

The share was behind former Geelong mayor and Liberal state election candidate Stretch Kontelj, who won 1233 more votes than Cr Cadwell in 2020 – but preference redistributions were enough to swing the result.

During her campaign in 2020, Cr Cadwell said she was focused on “representing the ‘forgotten people’ in the outer suburbs to ensure Council considers everyone’s needs, not just the Geelong CBD”.

Cr Cadwell is an Australian Labor Party-associated candidate who was part of Polwarth candidate Hutch Hussein’s campaign team during last year’s state election campaign.

Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan welcomed Cr Cadwell to the council at her swearing on on Monday afternoon.

“On behalf of Council, I welcome Melissa to the team and I’m looking forward to working with her to represent the local community.”

Cr Sullivan also thanked Ms Mansfield for service with the city from 2017 until her election.

“I’d like to thank Sarah for her valuable contribution to the council, and to the Greater Geelong community, over the past five years.”

“I look forward to continuing our strong working relationship as she serves the Western Victoria region in her new role as a Victorian MP.”