New Bendigo council elected

MEMBERSHIP of Bendigo’s new city council has been finalised, with the Victorian Electoral Commission declaring late on Thursday that all contested vacancies had been filled.

Epsom Ward councillor Andrea Metcalf, immediate past mayor, was the only candidate for her ward and was returned unopposed.

The successful candidates are:

Axedale – Shivali Chatley; Epsom – Andrea Metcalf; Golden Square – Karen Corr; Kennington – Abhishek Awasthi; Lake Eppalock – Aaron Spong; Lake Weeroona – Thomas Prince; Lockwood – John McIlwrath; Ravenswood – Damien Hurrell; and Whipstick – Owen Cosgriff.

Under the new municipal structure of nine wards with one councillor each, Cr Metcalf will be the only councillor at the table returning for a further term.

Vaughan Williams, who had nominated to continue his council work in the Golden Square Ward, lost out to Karen Corr after preferences.

Four wards – Eppalock, Kennington, Lake Weeroona and Lockwood – were determined on first preference votes.

All others, not including Cr Metcalf’s ward, needed preference distributions to arrive at winners.

Elected on first preferences were Aaron Spong in Eppalock Ward (5727 votes or 69.87 per cent) ahead of Dean Farrell (2470 votes or 30.13 per cent); Abhishek Awasthi in Kennington Ward (4713 votes or 58.86 per cent) ahead of Gavin Hicks (3294 votes or 41.14 per cent); Thomas Prince in Lake Weeroona Ward (3889 votes or 54.03 per cent) ahead of Luke Martin (3309 votes or 45.97 per cent); and John McIlwrath in Lockwood Ward (4753 votes or 59.23 per cent) in front of Jay Brady (3271 votes or 40.77 per cent).

In the preferences battles, Shivali Chatley (Axedale) scored 4389 votes (57.9 per cent) ahead of Rob Stephenson on 3564 (42.1 per cent); Karen Corr (Golden Square) finished with 4771 votes (61.3 per cent) ahead of Vaughan Williams with 3047 votes (38.97 per cent); Damien Hurrell (Ravenswood) gathered 4101 votes (59.23 per cent) to finish ahead of Donna Nicholas with 3912 (48.82 per cent); and Owen Cosgriff (Whipstick) collected 4387 votes (52.68 per cent) ahead of Bevan Madden on 3940 votes (47.32 per cent).

The new councillors are expected to be confirmed on Monday, while final results in all Victorian local government elections should be finalised by Friday 15 November.