Liam McNally
Moorabool council will undergo an electoral structure review that will reconsider the appropriate number of councillors, wards, and ward boundaries for the municipality.
Throughout 2023/24, 39 Victorian councils will undergo electoral structure reviews, with round one reviews for 12 rural shire councils, including Moorabool, kicking off next week.
Moorabool currently has four wards. The Central Moorabool, West Moorabool, and Woodland wards have one councillor each, and the East Moorabool ward has four councillors.
The Local Government Act 2020 introduced several changes, including that all small and large rural shire councils must now have electoral structures that are either unsubdivided, subdivided with single-councillor wards, or multi-councillor wards with an equal number of councillors per ward.
The reviews will be conducted by independent electoral representation advisory panels. Under the Act, the Electoral Commissioner or delegate must be a member of a panel.
Electoral Commissioner Warwick Gately said the panels will consider if councils have an appropriate number of councillors and whether they should be one large unsubdivided area or subdivided into wards.
“If the council will be subdivided, the panel will look at how many wards the council should have, the number of councillors in each ward, ward boundaries and ward names.”
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) will provide technical and administrative support to the panels.
The 12 councils in round one have been divided into three groups. For each group of councils, there will be two public information sessions to announce the start of the reviews, explain the processes, and open the submissions period.
The VEC encourages all Victorians, particularly those in the local council areas under review, to contribute to the review process and have their say.
For group three, which includes Moorabool, online public information sessions will be held at noon, February 6, and at 6pm, February 7.
Preliminary submissions open 9am February 8, and close at 5pm March 1.
People interested in making a submission can map their proposed electoral structure online using the public submission tool available on the VEC website.
Details: vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/council-reviews/electoral-structure-reviews
