Surf Coast Shire to drop to three wards

MAJOR change is coming to the Surf Coast Shire’s internal boundaries, with the number of councillors to remain unchanged at nine but the number of wards to drop from four to three.

On Thursday last week, Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne announced she had accepted the recommendation of the Electoral Representation Advisory Panels (ERAPs).

Initially established under the Local Government Act 2020, the change in legislation led to ERAPs consulting over the past 15 months to ensure councils become compliant with the new requirements.

Under the changes, the shire’s existing four wards – Torquay, Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne – would be replaced by three wards – Torquay, Otway Range and Winchelsea – with three councillors in each ward.

Torquay Ward would cover the urban, densely populated areas of Torquay and Jan Juc; Otway Range would take in the southern half of the shire west of Jan Juc, including with its northern border loosely defined by a line taking in Gundrys Road and Alsops Road; while Winchelsea Ward would encompass the northern half of the shire.

Although the intent of the review is to meet the legislated requirement that the number of voters per council must be within 10 per cent (higher or lower) of the average number of voters per councillor in any other ward, this is only the case in Torquay Ward at 2.32 per cent lower, with Otway Range 16.19 per cent higher and Winchelsea 13.86 per cent lower.

“While the proposed Otway Range and Winchelsea ward deviations currently sit outside +/-10 per cent (based on a snapshot of voter numbers taken at November 2022) voter projections indicate that all three wards are forecast to be within the +/-10 per cent tolerance for both the 2024 and 2028 local government elections,” the ERAP report stated.

The panel preferred a multi-councillor ward structure compared to a single-councillor one, despite strong support from community submissions.

“Having nine single-councillor wards in areas with such high growth forecasts means it is very likely that the voter-to-councillor ratios in multiple wards would move outside the legislated +/-10 per cent tolerance before the 2024 local government elections.

“The panel acknowledges that this reason could have been outlined in more detail in the preliminary report.

“Nonetheless, the very uneven distribution and projected changes in population mean any single-councillor ward structure would be fundamentally unstable.”

For more information, head to localgovernment.vic.gov.au/council-governance/electoral-representation-advisory-panels-eraps