ALLIANCES and joint ward representatives will end at the October elections when voters on the Mornington Peninsula will elect one councillor for each of the shire’s new 11 wards.
The single councillor wards replace the existing six wards, which have three councillors in Briars and Seawinds, two in Nepean and one each in Cerberus, Red Hill and Watson. The new single-councillor wards are Brokil, Beek Beek, Benbenjie, Briars, Coolart, Kackeraboite, Moorooduc, Nepean, Tanti, Tootgarook and Warringine. The redrawing of ward boundaries follows an electoral structure review in late 2023 by the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC).
The shire was one of 39 municipalities to have their electoral structure reviewed because of new requirements under the Local Government Act 2020. Six of the new ward names were on a list of 15 suggested by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Existing wards names that will be dropped are Cerberus, Red Hill, Seawinds and Watson (Wards new names, new boundaries, The News 20/2/24).
The changes to the municipal structure were announced in a December report by a three-person electoral structure review panel appointed last year by the Local Government Minister Melissa Horne. Red Hill Ward’s Cr David Gill said the result of the review was a gerrymander that could be manipulated by political parties. “I believe only having [the local government minister] in charge of electoral boundaries for local government leads to the possibility of the first political gerrymander in Australian history,” he said.
First published in the Mornington News – 23rd April 2024
