Review set to reconstruct council ward system

THE Surf Coast Shire’s electoral system is due for a revamp ahead of next year’s council elections, with its present ward structure not compliant with new regulations.

The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is preparing structure reviews for local government bodies across the state, with Surf Coast Shire among the first to undergo the process that begins later this month.

New state legislation for local government, which took effect in 2020, included changes to what type of electoral structures are allowed for councils.

As a rural shire council, Surf Coast must be either an unsubdivided shire, have an equal number of councillors in multi-councillor wards, or have single-councillor wards.

Its existing system of four wards with an unequal number of councillors is not allowed once the rules take effect from the October 2024 elections.

Surf Coast Shire presently consists of nine councillors from four wards: four in Torquay, two in each of Anglesea and Winchelsea, and one in Lorne.

Local Government Minister Melissa Horne has appointed two independent panels who will oversee the reviews to determine the best balance for shire representation ahead of the next ballot.

“Currently, the structure of 39 local councils does not meet the requirements of the Act and must be compliant for the October 2024 council elections,” the VEC stated on its website.

“To ensure all councils meet these requirements, the Minister for Local Government has formed two panels to conduct electoral structure reviews of the 39 non-compliant local councils over the next 18 months.

The state’s Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately will sit on each panel. Mr Gately said the reviews would be wide-ranging.

“The panels will consider if councils have an appropriate number of councillors and whether they should be one large unsubdivided area or subdivided into wards.

“If the council will be subdivided, the panel will look at how many wards the council should have, the number of councillors in each ward, ward boundaries and ward names.”

Local ratepayers have voted under the existing system since 2012, when a VEC representation review recommended a shift to the current ward system from an unsubdivided shire.

The latest reviews in 2020 resulted in changes to ward boundaries to account for population changes.

The VEC will host online public information sessions about the process on Monday, January 30 from noon and

Tuesday, January 31 at 6pm.

Registration is essential to the information sessions, with links to become available ahead of the sessions.

Preliminary submissions will be open from February 1 until February 22, before a draft report is due for release on March 22.

The preliminary report would be open for comment until April 12, which the commission will consider before publishing its final report on May 17.