THE state government is moving ahead with plans to introduce single-member wards across most Victorian councils.
After the Local Government Act 2020 was implemented, councils statewide began gradually shifting to single-member wards. Kingston Council was among those that made the switch at the 2020 local government elections.
A review into Frankston Council’s structure was undertaken last year. Last week, the state government confirmed it had accepted the recommendation of the Electoral Representation Advisory Panels and would proceed with implementing single-member wards at 39 councils.
Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Shire councils will both elect one councillor per ward at the local government elections in October.
Local government minister Melissa Horne said the changes would “ensure that Victorian councils will be set up to effectively represent their communities.”
“These new ward boundaries will be in place for the local government elections this year – an important step in our work to reform local government and meet the expectations of communities right across Victoria,” Horne said.
After the Local Government Act 2020 was passed, criticism was voiced over the change to single-member wards. At the time, Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said “moving all councils to a single member ward structure will increase the likelihood that councils are controlled entirely by major parties and that decision making is dominated by ward interests over the common good of the council area.” (“Council changes may hurt small parties and independents” The Times 4/5/20)
The electoral structure review recommended that Frankston Council be divided into nine wards.
The proposed new names of the nine divisons are Ballam Ward, Centenary Park Ward, Derinya Ward, Elisabeth Murdoch Ward, Kananook Ward, Lyrebird Ward, Pines Ward, Wilton Ward, and Yamala Ward.
The former North-East Ward has been divided into the Centenary Park, Wilton, and Lyrebird wards. The southern part of the former North-East Ward is included in the Elisabeth Murdoch Ward alongside former South Ward land. The rest of South Ward is divided between Yamala, Derinya, and Ballam wards. Ballam also contains part of the old North-West Ward. The rest of North-West Ward is shared between Kananook and Pines wards.
The electoral structure review’s final report read that the new boundaries would “ensure a greater number of communities would be united in wards compared with other models and options. As such, the panel considered that on balance communities of interest would have a reasonable opportunity to elect a candidate to represent them.”
“While it is difficult to predict the number of candidates likely to stand at future elections, past election results provide some indication. The panel examined election results for Frankston City Council including the numbers of candidates who nominated, incidences of uncontested elections and rates of informal voting. It found there were relatively strong candidate numbers across all wards. The panel assumes this trend will continue under a structure of 9 single councillor wards, minimising the risk of uncontested or failed elections,” the report read.
The read the full electoral structure review report online visit localgovernment.vic.gov.au/council-governance/electoral-representation-advisory-panels-eraps
