Mayor Joe McCracken doesn’t want Colac Otway Shire divided in proposed Australian Electorial Commission redistribution

BANNOCKBURN and surrounding towns should form part of Wannon, the Colac-Otway Shire has advocated.

BANNOCKBURN and surrounding towns should form part of Wannon, the Colac Otway Shire has advocated.

A meeting was held in Colac last week to push for the shire to be retained in Corangamite, with the electorate under threat of abolition due to the Australian Electoral Commission’s (AEC) redistribution.

Colac Otway mayor Joe McCracken.

Under the AEC’s proposal, Colac and surrounding towns would become part of the neighbouring Wannon electorate, while the Surf Coast and Apollo Bay district would form part of the new Cox electorate.

Colac Otway Mayor Joe McCracken said part of the Golden Plains Shire was already proposed by the AEC to form part of Wannon.

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“In most cases around regional Victoria, whole councils form part of an electorate and are rarely separated because it creates too much confusion for voters,” Cr McCracken said.

“The proposed boundaries from the AEC already have part of the Golden Plains Shire. We have suggested that the Colac Otway Shire remains undivided and that the Corangamite or Cox northern boundary runs along the Hamilton Highway which would mean the southern part of the Golden Plains Shire would be in Wannon.”

More than 50 people attended the Colac meeting and Cr McCracken said there was “95 per cent support” for retaining the city in the Corangamite electorate, or its replacement Cox constituency.

Colac is located 106km from Wannon MP Dan Tehan’s Warrnambool electorate office and 169km away from his Hamilton office.

However, Bannockburn is even further away from both regional centres. Objections to the proposed AEC boundaries close on May 4 with the Liberal MP Sarah Henderson keen to retain the Colac region, which contains a number of strong Coalition booths.

Her main rival, Corangamite Labor candidate Libby Coker emailed ALP members last week requesting they make submissions to the AEC in support of the Colac region forming part of Wannon.

The email states that: “Colac and the South West have much in common with the seat of Wannon — agriculture is the key economic driver.”

Originally published as Mayor Joe McCracken doesn’t want Colac Otway Shire divided in proposed Australian Electorial Commission redistribution