The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has recommended East Gippsland Shire consist of nine councillors elected from three divided wards (one four-councillor ward, one three-councillor ward and one two-councillor ward) as part of its council representation review published last week, however that is not the direction the current council believes it should be headed.

The three wards would include Mitchell (four councillors), Lakes (three) and Snowy (two).

Of the nine current councillors within the current unsubdivided council area, Crs John White, Joe Rettino, Jackson Roberts would be part of the proposed Mitchell Ward, mayor, Cr Natalie O’Connell, Mark Reeves, Ben Buckley and Marianne Pelz hail from the Snowy Ward, with just Cr Dick Ellis from the Lakes Ward.

Mayor, Cr O’Connell, said the current council has already stated its position to remain with the existing structure.

“The Victorian Electoral Commission’s (VEC) final report released June 5, following its electoral representation review of East Gippsland Shire Council, is not in line with council’s very clear position on the best electoral structure for the region,” Cr O’Connell said.

“Council adopted, at its May meeting, a position that the electoral structure of East Gippsland Shire should remain unsubdivided with nine elected councillors. This was in line with the VEC’s recommendation in its preliminary report.

“Council believes that this model has served our community well since 2008. It has delivered fair representation, shire-wide decision making, good community access to councillors and councillor accountability.”

Cr O’Connell said concerns include the three-ward model recommended by the VEC may reduce representation from the shire’s northern and eastern communities.

“The recommended two-councillor Snowy Ward currently has four councillors, and as it stands residents can contact any of the nine councillors to assist with issues or raise ideas. With seven councillors proposed to be elected from the two wards in the south-west of the shire, council believes there is a risk of less geographically diverse representation.

“Following the release of the final report this week I will be writing to the Minister for Local Government, the Hon. Adem Somyurek MLC raising council’s concern about the VEC recommendation.”

The VEC review, which took preliminary submissions from the public from February 13 to March 13, of which 20 submissions were received, drew three options: A - Nine councillors from an unsubdivded structure; B – Nine councillors from three wards; C – 10 councillors from two wards.

The Mitchell and Lakes wards are considerably smaller than the Snowy ward, which takes in far east towns such as Mallacoota, as well as High Country municipalities like Benambra and Omeo.

While many response submitters were disappointed at the choice of subdivided options available in the preliminary report, the VEC said the majority stated partial or full support for option B.

“Option B shows clearly defined boundaries and provides representation for the broad geographic communities within the shire: the Bairnsdale regional centre and areas located to its south and west; river and lakeside communities in the region surrounding Metung and Lakes Entrance; and the sparsely populated rural and remote communities in the northern and eastern regions of the shire,” The VEC’s report said.

“Option B balances voter-to-councillor ratios well, while also allowing for future growth in the south-west of the local council area. Multicouncillor wards enable proportional representation at elections, providing an opportunity for a range of communities of interest to gain representation. Importantly, option B also responds to the trend of rising levels of informal voting linked with larger fields of candidates at recent elections.”

The VEC noted in its summary of submissions to this review that the de-amalgamation of East Gippsland Shire Council was discussed in several submissions as well as at the public hearing.

The VEC’s review found nine is the most appropriate number of councillors for East Gippsland Shire Council.

In 2007, the VEC recommended that East Gippsland Shire Council change to an unsubdivided electoral structure.

PICTURED: The Victorian Electoral Commission’s proposed divided East Gippsland Shire wards. (PS)