Have your says as Geelong council set to return to single-councillor wards in structural review

Councillors have welcomed a review into Geelong’s ward structure, as the community has a chance to have its say. TAKE OUR POLL.

The City of Greater Geelong is set to return to single-councillor wards in an electoral shake up. On the left, the city’s wards prior to 2016, on the right, the current wards.

Geelong residents have an opportunity to decide what a return to single-councillor wards would look like after a state government review proposed the shake-up.

The city is currently divided into four wards with 11 councillors; three wards with three councillors and one dual-councillor ward. Previously, the city had 12 wards, before moving to the current structure in 2016.

According to acting electoral commissioner Dana Fleming, the new change is a requirement of regional cities, metropolitan and interface councils under the Local Government Act 2020.

“Under the Act, these councils must move to single-councillor ward electoral structures,” Ms Fleming said.

Public submissions on the move can be made on the Victorian Electoral Commission’s website until July 26.

At the end of August, a report will be presented to Local Government Minister Melissa Horne.

The City of Greater Geelong’s acting chief-executive David Greaves said the review was a vital process.

“The review is an important chance for the community to offer their thoughts about what electoral structure would best represent them,” Mr Greaves said.

“We encourage everyone to look at the proposals and have their say via the VEC website.”

It is understood the city has not taken a formal position on a preferred structure.

However, some councillors have welcomed the change.

Councillor Eddy Kontelj, who was a councillor for Cowie Ward under the previous system, said single-councillor wards allowed councillors to better represent their constituents.

“The area is so large, at least currently, the ward that you are elected to is so large and so diverse.

“The issues that people are facing in Newtown are completely different to the issues that people are facing in Whittington or Bell Post Hill.”

“I’ve worked in both now and certainly I felt like I was probably a little more effective and efficient in the previous structure, I could certainly get to more issues that were arising.”

“(Residents) get far more attention and that counselor becomes really, really knowledgeable on all the aspects of the ward and, and they can really dedicate themselves to driving improvements.”

In 2016, the city’s previous electoral structure review went for multi-councillor wards, arguing they were able to cope better with population shifts, by combining growth areas and stable areas.

The VEC considered, at the time, that multi-councillor wards offered a better prospect of achieving fair and equitable representation, and could foster collobration between councillors.

The result was a major shift, as Geelong had been divided into a single-councillor wards since its first election in 1995.

Councillor Jim Mason said the decision was up to the community to see “how they might be best represented”.

“Whichever way it goes I’ll be representing my community, whatever ward we have, we are also obliged to represent the whole community, however it is divided up,” he said.

Submissions are now open for public feedback until 5pm on July 26.

People interested in making a response submission to the preliminary report can map their proposed electoral structure online using the public submission tool available on the VEC website as part of their submission.

The final report will be submitted to the Minister on August 30.

Originally published as Have your says as Geelong council set to return to single-councillor wards in structural review