Council shake-up planned

By Lachlan Ellis

The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has proposed two new models for Moorabool Shire Council’s electoral structure, and it wants to hear the community’s thoughts.

Moorabool Shire Council is currently undergoing an electoral structure review, which will see the number of Councillors increase from seven to nine.
Mayor Cr Rod Ward encouraged the community to have their say on their favoured model.

“An independent electoral structure review panel will look at whether the Council has an appropriate number of Councillors, how many wards there should be, and how many Councillors per ward there should be. The review panel has put forward two proposed new ward structures for Moorabool Shire,” Cr Ward told the Moorabool News.

“As the panel is taking submissions from the community, I’d encourage anyone interested in the future look of Moorabool Shire to provide feedback.”

In its preliminary report, the independent electoral structure review panel has also suggested that Moorabool Shire Council become either unsubdivided (no wards), or reduce the number of wards from four to three, with each ward then electing three Councillors each.

The changes are necessary due to the Local Government Act 2020’s mandate for rural shire councils to be either:
• Unsubdivided
• Multi-councillor wards with an equal number of councillors per ward
• Single-councillor wards

Moorabool Shire Council is one of 39 councils that doesn’t fit any of these requirements – while three of Moorabool’s four wards are single-councillor wards, the most populous ward – the East Moorabool Ward – has four Councillors.

Therefore, the VEC requires that Moorabool Shire’s wards be altered to fit one of the three requirements, before the next local government election in October 2024.

An unsubdivided council (Model 1) would mean Moorabool electors vote for all nine candidates regardless of where in the Shire they’re from, with wards no longer existing.

On the other hand, Model 2’s proposal suggests three wards of roughly equal voting population, but vastly different land area – the proposed Bungal Ward would take in the vast majority of Moorabool’s land area with around 1,777 km2, while the Bacchus Marsh Ward would take in just over 20 km2.

In its report, the VEC noted that Moorabool Shire has a greater population than both South Gippsland Shire and Moira Shire, yet while those Shires have nine Councillors, Moorabool Shire has only seven, with 4,116 voters per councillor in Moorabool compared to 2,775 for Moira Shire and 3,107 for South Gippsland Shire.

The VEC states an unsubdivided structure would be “an effective structure for accommodating changes in population”, but “there may be concerns in the community that most councillors may come from the main urban areas, rather than rural and regional areas”.

On the other hand, a multi-councillor ward structure would “broadly capture the communities of interest”, but carries “the real risk of voter numbers becoming unbalanced across wards over time due to forecasts of rapid and uneven population growth across the shire”.

The VEC’s preliminary report, and details on the two proposed models for Moorabool Shire, can be viewed in full at www.vec.vic.gov.au/moorabool.

Submissions close at 5 pm on Wednesday 19 April 2023, with a final report to be released by the VEC on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

To read Councillors’ thoughts on the proposed models, read the 11 April edition of the Moorabool News online here.