{"id":172218,"date":"2025-10-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=172218"},"modified":"2025-10-09T14:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T03:52:05","slug":"vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/","title":{"rendered":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has decided on a date for the countback to fill the spot vacated by former Surf Coast Shire councillor Rebecca Bourke.<\/p>\n

Elected to the Torquay Ward in November 2024<\/a>, Ms Bourke announced her resignation effective immediately on September 25.<\/p>\n

“This decision was not easy. I care deeply for our community, however, I need to prioritise my young family’s wellbeing at this point in time,” Ms Bourke said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Ms Bourke’s departure from the three-councillor Torquay Ward, the VEC announced on Wednesday last week that it would run an online countback to fill the extraordinary vacancy at 10.30am on October 27.<\/p>\n

According to the VEC’s website, all candidates not elected at the original election, and who are still eligible to be a councillor, are automatically participants in the countback.<\/p>\n

In Torquay Ward, Liz Pattison was elected first, followed by Ms Bourke and Paul Barker. Martin Duke, Eric Menogue and Phoebe Crockett were the remaining candidates.<\/p>\n

All votes from the original election are included in the countback. To be successful at a countback, a participating candidate needs to achieve a quota, which is the same as the count of votes in the original election<\/a> – in this case, 2,087 votes.<\/p>\n

Before they can be declared elected, a successful candidate must complete and return a declaration stating that they are still qualified to be a councillor. If the candidate does not return a declaration within 48 hours, a further countback will be held.<\/p>\n

If there are no remaining eligible candidates to participate in a countback, a by-election is required.<\/p>\n

A link to the countback will go live at 10am on October 27 at vec.vic.gov.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has decided on a date for the countback to fill the spot vacated by former Surf Coast Shire councillor Rebecca Bourke. Elected to the Torquay Ward in November 2024, Ms Bourke announced her resignation effective immediately on September 25. “This decision was not easy. I care deeply for our community, […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":172221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-172218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surf Coast Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"jamespetertaylor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@notthatjt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\"},\"headline\":\"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":286,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/\",\"name\":\"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/Untitled-design-39.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"The Surf Coast Shire council as it was elected in November 2024: Rebecca Bourke, Tony Phelps, Paul Barker, Mike Bodsworth, Liz Pattison, Adrian Schonfelder, Libby Stapleton, Leon Walker and Joel Grist. Photos: JAMES TAYLOR\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/news\\\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Surf Coast Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/cropped-logo.png\",\"width\":350,\"height\":38,\"caption\":\"Surf Coast Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\",\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"description\":\"James\u2019 first job in journalism was at the Bendigo Advertiser, where he held a number of roles, including reporter, sub-editor and arts and features writer. He has also worked for several publications at Fairfax, including the Knox Weekly, Casey Weekly and Pakenham Weekly, and in the UK with the Berkshire Media Group. Raised in Geelong, James has been back in his hometown since 2011 and now lives in Waurn Ponds. Outside of journalism, James divides his time between barracking for the Cats, chasing his two-year-old daughter around, and posting on Twitter (@notthatjt).\",\"sameAs\":[\"jamespetertaylor\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/@notthatjt\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/surfcoasttimes\\\/author\\\/jamestaylor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times","description":"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times","og_description":"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/","og_site_name":"Surf Coast Times","article_author":"jamespetertaylor","article_published_time":"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"James Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@notthatjt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/"},"author":{"name":"James Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677"},"headline":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback","datePublished":"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/"},"wordCount":286,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/","name":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback - Surf Coast Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-12T17:00:00+00:00","description":"VEC to hold Surf Coast countback on October 27 to fill Torquay Ward vacancy after councillor Rebecca Bourke\u2019s resignation in September.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Untitled-design-39.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"The Surf Coast Shire council as it was elected in November 2024: Rebecca Bourke, Tony Phelps, Paul Barker, Mike Bodsworth, Liz Pattison, Adrian Schonfelder, Libby Stapleton, Leon Walker and Joel Grist. Photos: JAMES TAYLOR"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/vec-sets-date-for-shire-councillor-countback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"VEC sets date for shire councillor countback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","name":"Surf Coast Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#organization","name":"Surf Coast Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/08\/cropped-logo.png","width":350,"height":38,"caption":"Surf Coast Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677","name":"James Taylor","description":"James\u2019 first job in journalism was at the Bendigo Advertiser, where he held a number of roles, including reporter, sub-editor and arts and features writer. He has also worked for several publications at Fairfax, including the Knox Weekly, Casey Weekly and Pakenham Weekly, and in the UK with the Berkshire Media Group. Raised in Geelong, James has been back in his hometown since 2011 and now lives in Waurn Ponds. Outside of journalism, James divides his time between barracking for the Cats, chasing his two-year-old daughter around, and posting on Twitter (@notthatjt).","sameAs":["jamespetertaylor","https:\/\/x.com\/@notthatjt"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/author\/jamestaylor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172218"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=172218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}