Incumbents re-elected at shire council meeting

THE Surf Coast Shire council will stay with its existing leadership team into next year, with the incumbents unchallenged at the mayoral election.

At their special council meeting earlier this evening, councillors unanimously re-elected Cr Liz Pattison as mayor and Cr Mike Bodsworth as deputy mayor until the end of the present council term, which will conclude with the local government elections in October 2024.

Both councillors were the only nominees for their respective positions, and were first elected to the roles in November 2022.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to represent our community at the Surf Coast Shire as mayor for the next 12 months, ” Cr Pattison said after she was re-elected.

“I thank my fellow councillors for their support and confidence in re-electing me as their mayor.

“It has been an honour leading this council and I’m looking forward to the year ahead.”

She said making local government accessible to everyone the community was something the council should be proud of over the past 12 months.

“To do this, we’ve taken some of our council meetings into the community – this year, we’ve done them at Winchelsea and Lorne, and this month we’ll have one of our council meetings in Aireys Inlet.”

She said the council was also committed to reconciliation and walking and listening to First Nations people.

“This is really important especially after recent events with the referendum, and the Pilk Purriyn truth-telling event, which was initiated and run by Wadawurrung and supported by the council and the community, is a really important example of this.”

Cr Bodsworth said he had enjoyed his role as deputy mayor over the past year and was looking forward to carrying it on.

“I think we’ve performed well as a council, I’m very focused on ensuring that we continue to perform well, that we stay focused on our agendas, that we stay very focused on our communities, and that we’re true and we represent in good faith what our communities are striving for.”