Central Victorian councils are divided on proposed changes to electoral structures contained in the draft local government bill.
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The bill, which is being updated for the first time in 25 years, suggests a more streamlined structure for municipalities across the state, promoting the removal of mixed of multi-member and single-member wards within the one council.
Campaspe Shire Council and Mount Alexander Shire have a mix of single and multi-member wards.
Campaspe Shire, in its submission to the local government draft exposure bill, suggested the changes would “not always allow for fair and equitable representation across a large geographic area with different communities of interest”.
“Council recommended retaining the current range of electoral structures to ensure the most appropriate structure can be applied to meet local needs, particularly in rural and regional councils,” the shire’s submission read.
Wards in effect mimic state electoral boundaries with councillors providing representation for a particular area.
The local government bill suggests either removing wards to have a specific number of councillors, or having an equal number of councillors per ward.
For example if a council had eight councillors, it would have four wards with two councillors in each.
The City of Greater Bendigo has three councillors in each of its three wards.
In its submission, it supported preferential voting for multi-member wards and unsubdivided elections.
“This allows for the best candidates for the entire municipality to be elected. It also allows councillors to collectively focus on the best interests of the entire municipality and avoids the duplication or triplication of effort in multi-member wards,” the submission read.
Municipal Association of Victoria president Mary Lalios opposed the mooted changes.
“These electoral structures have provided effective representation models in rural areas where populations are dispersed regionally and concentrated in towns,” Cr Lalios said.
“It (democracy) is not a one size fits all model.
“Ultimately it should be up to a community to lobby for whatever structure they see fit.”
The MAV submission also reiterated local government’s ongoing opposition to the state government rate cap and called for reconsideration of the arrangements for growth councils, together with a review and streamlining of the application process for a variation to the cap.
Mount Alexander Shire Council, which has three single and one multi-member ward, was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline.
