By Rachael Dexter and Tom Cowie
It’s the dream of any political aspirant: to win a ballot without a vote being cast.
This is precisely how nearly 50 candidates will waltz into council chambers across Victoria after no one else nominated – and even some of the winners fear the impact on democracy.
Geoff Lake, a long-time Monash councillor in Melbourne’s south-east, has been re-elected unopposed.Credit: Joe Armao
This year, 2231 candidates have put their hands up to compete for 646 spots on councils across Victoria, with voting due to take place in October.
Across the state, 47 candidates have secured council seats before voters get their ballots in the mail, mainly at regional councils.
In Yarriambiack Shire Council, in the state’s west, every ward was uncontested – so residents won’t get to vote at all.
In Melbourne’s south-east, long-time Monash councillor Geoff Lake has already won because no one else nominated to run in his ward.
‘I don’t think it’s a great thing for local government. I think it’s good when there’s lots of interest from residents in standing for council.’
City of Monash councillor Geoff Lake
He was doubly lucky – he hadn’t yet printed any campaign material when he learnt of his victory.
“I’m pleased, it was unexpected – we’ve never had an uncontested election before in Monash,” Lake said.
“I don’t think it’s a great thing for local government. I think it’s good when there’s lots of interest from residents in standing for council.”
Lake is one of eight candidates in the greater Melbourne area – all sitting councillors – who this week learnt they would be re-elected unopposed.
The others are Elizabeth Nealy in Banyule, Jack Kowarzik in Cardinia, Sophie Tan in Greater Dandenong, Deirdre Diamante and Carli Lange in Manningham, and Richard Higgins and Fiona McAllister in Yarra Ranges.
Ben Raue, an election analyst at The Tally Room website, said the record number of unopposed councillors in Victoria was a bad outcome for voters.
He said it was “an entirely predicted result” of controversial changes to Victoria’s council voting system introduced by then-local government minister Adem Somyurek, a one-time Labor factional powerbroker.
This election, every metropolitan council except the City of Melbourne will be changing to single-member wards.
The change will mean most Victorian council areas – 46 out of 79 – are carved up into smaller wards. One councillor will represent each area, rather than larger wards represented by multiple councillors.
So most Melbourne residents will only vote for one candidate instead of up to three or four.
“It’s not good for democracy – it reduces political competition and reduces options for voters,” Raue said.
Critics of the approach say only the best-resourced candidates – either incumbents or those affiliated with major parties – are likely to get elected, leading to a lack of diversity representing the community.
The multi-member system was seen as a kind of proportional representation, similar to the upper house at state and federal levels, which makes it easier for low-profile independents and minor parties to be elected.
Manningham Council’s Carli Lange is one of eight councillors in the greater Melbourne area re-elected unopposed.Credit: Joe Armao
First proposed in 2019, the push for single wards was shepherded through parliament by Labor – with the support of the Victorian opposition – after Somyurek was sacked from the ministry in 2020 due to branch-stacking allegations.
Raue said the change made it more likely that aspiring councillors would be elected unopposed, reversing a 20-year trend in Victoria toward multi-member wards on councils.
“Uncontested elections are much more common when you only elect one person because the election is much less competitive,” he said.
“It’s harder to get elected, so people don’t put their hands up because they know they can’t win.”
Raue said while uncontested elections might be a “necessary evil” in some low-population regional areas, it “should not be happening in metropolitan Melbourne”.
Lake attributed a lack of interest from other candidates in his ward to tough economic times and the reduction of coverage of councils in local media.
Diamante, one of the automatically re-elected councillors in Manningham Council, said it was a strange feeling to prepare for a campaign and then find out it was already over.
“I was checking the [Victorian Electoral Commission] website, when there were no other candidates listed I thought, ‘Can I be this lucky?’” she said.
“Part of it might be luck, but I really do believe that I worked hard to represent the community.”
The VEC says residents who live in Melbourne’s eight uncontested wards won’t receive a ballot paper, but will get a leaflet letting them know they don’t need to vote.
Local council voting will be done by mail; ballot packs will be mailed out from October 7 and must be in the post by Friday, October 25 to be received by the November 1 deadline.
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