The Victorian Electoral Commission has formally announced the results of the local council election for the Mount Alexander Shire Council.

The successful candidates are:

Barkers Creek Ward – Rosie Annear (returning)
Calder Ward – Tony Cordy (returning)
Campbells Creek Ward – Bill Maltby (returning)
Coliban Ward – Phillip Walker
Forest Creek Ward – Toby Heydon
Loddon River Ward – Matt Driscoll (returning)
Moonlight Creek Ward – Lucas Maddock
Tarrengower Ward – Rosalie Hastwell

The councillors elect will be formally sworn in at an unscheduled meeting of council next Tuesday 26 November 2024.

Results in the local government election for Hepburn Shire Council have been provisionally announced this afternoon.

They see previously-serving councillors Don Henderson, Brian Hood, Lesley Hewitt and Tim Drylie returning, with newcomers Tony Clark, Pat Hockey and Shirley Cornish also across the line.

The declaration of the outcome is scheduled for 4.30 pm at 24 Vincent Street in Daylesford tomorrow (Friday 8^th November 2024).

The Victorian Electoral Commission has issued the following statement:

After a computer count the following candidates are successful. They will be declared elected in the coming days.

The successful candidates are Don Henderson (first successful), Brian Hood (second successful), Lesley Hewitt (third Successful), Tony Clark (fourth successful), Tim Drylie (fifth successful), Pat Hockey (sixth successful), Shirley Cornish (seventh successful)

Further information is available on the Victorian Electoral Commission website.

https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/voting/2024-local-council-elections/hepburn-shire-council/results

Counting continues in the Hepburn Shire local government election.  

Twelve candidates put their hands up for seven vacancies. In the order they  appeared on the ballot they are: Don Henderson, Tony Clark, Christian Porochowsky,  Tim Drylie, Derek Sedgman, Benny Pettersson, Brian Hood, Cameron Stone, Pat  Hockey, Lesley Hewitt, Shirley Cornish and Bernie Winfield-Gray.  

Of the 12 candidates, four are former councillors.  

Following a review in 2023, the Minister for Local Government announced a new  electoral structure for Hepburn Shire.

The changes see the shire move from five wards  with seven councillors, to no wards with seven councillors. Voters were able to vote for  any candidate, regardless of where they or the candidate live in the municipality.  

From the Victorian Electoral Commission website:  

Voting in the Hepburn Shire Council election has now closed. We will publish results as they are finalised during the count period.  All results will be declared by November 15.  

In local council elections, we can’t guarantee exactly when results will be available. This is because each election is slightly different.

The things that can affect the  counting timeline include: the number of vacancies; if it is counted by hand or by  computer; how many people are enrolled in the council; and how many candidates there are in each ward.  

Provisional results for all councils will be published on this website between November 6 and 12.

Didn’t vote?  If you were enrolled in this election and it looks like you did not vote, we may send you an ‘Apparent failure to vote’ notice in the coming months. This is your  chance to explain what happened if you did not vote. Please respond to this notice, otherwise you might receive a fine.  

Ed’s note: In the October 7 edition I said I thought I knew how the election  would play out. So, with voting over, here are my picks in no particular order  and not necessarily my votes. I reckon those in will be former councillors  Don Henderson, Tim Drylie, Brian Hood and Lesley Hewitt, and newcomers Bernie Winfield-Gray, Benny Pettersson and Cameron Stone. Hmmm.  

Voters enrolled in Hepburn Shire Council should have received their ballot packs to vote in this month’s local government election – or should check the mail, the Victorian Electoral Commission says.

Electoral Commissioner Sven Bluemmel has been encouraging people to vote as early as possible.  

‘This election is postal, so it’s important to complete and return your ballot material as soon as possible to make sure your vote counts,’ Mr Bluemmel said. 

Ballot material must be in the mail or delivered to the election office at 79A Raglan Street, Daylesford by 6 pm Friday 25 October. 

Voters who haven’t received their ballot pack by today, Tuesday 15 October should go to vec.vic.gov.au to complete an online replacement ballot pack form. 

Candidates who have nominated for the election are listed in the ballot packs and on the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) website at vec.vic.gov.au If candidates have provided them, there will also be candidate photos and statements in the packs, and answers to the candidate questionnaire online. 

Voting is compulsory for all voters who were enrolled for this election at 4 pm Wednesday 7 August. Voters who don’t vote may be fined.

By Donna Kelly  

Let the games begin.  So, 12 candidates are vying for seven spots for the new Hepburn Shire Council.  The wards have been done away with and really, it seems a bit of a no-brainer as to  who will get in.

I won’t say that here but I will put the names I believe will get up in an envelope,  seal it and then open it after the votes have been counted. I reckon I will be pretty  spot on. I’ll let you know.  

The candidates include four former councillors for the shire, one former councillor for another shire, two business owners, a couple in the ALP and a couple  who didn’t worry about filling in a candidate form for the Victorian Electoral  Commission – which I do find a bit strange but each to their own.  

And the keyboard warriors are already busy at work with all sorts of rumours doing the rounds. Or maybe not rumours. There are some interesting Google  searches to be had if you have nothing else happening.  

It comes on top of the collapse of the final Hepburn Shire Council meeting for the year – with three councillors walking out on a confidential planning matter –  meaning there was no quorum and the final agenda item for the meeting ended with  no vote.  Strange way to end the year.

I have spoken to a few people and had some of the oddest conversations all about transparency and yet not actually being able to talk  about what happened.  

It is probably just as well it happened at the final meeting; some of the councillors  are not very happy with each other. Although I hear that might have been a bit of a  trend for 2024.

Those who stayed said they were doing their job while some of those who left said they were doing their best by walking away.  

Kind of reminds me of the Local Government Inspectorate report into the  council and The Rex. Like how the Inspectorate says it is “an independent agency  responsible for making sure Victorian councils follow the Local Government Act”  and then says, after a five-year investigation, there is nothing to see here. WTAF!  

Blind Freddie can see there is plenty to see. Well, maybe quite a few million  dollars not to be seen, but then there are the Bleakley Street apartments which are  looking very bleak indeed. I wonder if the council will lose yet more money there, say if someone decides they were led astray with their building permit on a pretty dodgy piece of land.  

Anyway, the games continue. Hepburn Shire Council has always been interesting.  I have covered the council for 11 years with The Local and another year or so with the  former Fairfax news company.  

I remember the Ned Kelly incident – nicely handled by Heather Mutimer – and  the coffin. Ahh, the fun we had.

Further back in my life I covered the Frankston City Council and that was also fun. Councillors calling other councillors fat, the moccasin jokes, a former CEO who said he was going to “get that bitch” – me. Good times.  

And then I also worked at Kingston City Council. Not so much fun being on the  inside. We used to have weekly meetings with journos and the mayor, and offer free cake and coffee. The journos loved that and forgot to ask the right questions.

Did you know Kingston had the last shit cart dunny? No, because no-one ever asked. What a  great story that could have been.  I guess the only thing all councils have in common is that now and again shit  happens. Just sayin’…  

Sixteen local council election candidates across the state have been retired after being found ineligible to nominate.  

Many of these are a result of routine checking by the Department of Government Services and Local Government Victoria crosschecking the VEC’s list of candidates with the register of local government candidate training.

This process identified that as of Monday 30 September, 12 candidates did not complete their training as declared in their nominations.   

It is a legislative requirement for candidates to complete this training in the two years before election day, in order to be able to nominate. As part of the nomination process, candidates are required to declare they have completed the training and specify a completion date for the training. Over 99% of candidates successfully completed the training.  

Before retiring each candidate, the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) provided them with an opportunity to respond to the intention to retire them, as required by the Local Government (Electoral) Regulations 2020.

As a result, some candidates were subsequently matched against the register of local government candidate training and were not retired. 

This brings the total number of retired candidates to 16, after 4 candidates were retired just after the close of nominations after being found ineligible to nominate. This brings the current total number of candidates running in the elections to 2,215. 

The VEC website is regularly updated to reflect the latest retired candidates.  

With the close of nominations and ballot draws for this year’s local council elections, 2231 candidates nominated for 646 council vacancies in 466 separate electorates.      

Hepburn Shire has 12 candidates for its seven vacancies.      

In the order they will appear on the ballot in the upcoming postal vote they are:  Don Henderson, Tony Clark, Christian Porochowsky, Tim Drylie, Derek Sedgman,  Benny Pettersson, Brian Hood, Cameron Stone, Pat Hockey, Lesley Hewitt, Shirley  Cornish and Bernie Winfield-Gray.      

Of the 12 candidates, four are former councillors.      

Following a review in 2023, the Minister for Local Government announced a new electoral structure for Hepburn Shire.      

The changes see the shire move from five wards with seven councillors, to no wards with seven councillors.

Voters will be able to vote for any candidate, regardless of where they or the candidate live in the municipality.      

The election will be conducted by mail in October.    

  A Victorian Electoral Commission media release said the number of candidates this year was higher than the 2186 candidates who nominated for 622 councillor vacancies in 298 separate electorates at the 2020 council elections.     

 “As of the close of nominations, 42 of the 466 individual elections are uncontested, where the number of candidates is equal to the number of vacancies.     

 “All wards in Yarriambiack Shire Council were uncontested, which means the general election for that council is entirely uncontested. Voters in these uncontested elections will not be required to vote.”  

Words: Donna Kelly     

The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is delivering a number of Stand for Council information sessions for the community and prospective candidates.

Every four years, City of Ballarat residents vote to elect Councillors to represent the Ballarat community. The next Council Election will be held on Saturday 26 October 2024. The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is responsible for managing local Council elections.

Local democracy hinges on the need for councils to represent the diverse needs and aspirations of our local communities. This year’s council elections are an opportunity for Victorians to elect the candidates who they think best represent, at the local level, their vision and interests for a better, stronger and more sustainable future.

This election, the Ballarat Municipality will move from three wards to nine, each of these nine wards will have one elected Councillor, these new wards will be:

1. Alfredton Ward
2. Brown Hill Ward
3. Buninyong Ward
4. Central Ward
5. Delacombe Ward
6. Golden Point Ward
7. North Ward
8. Sebastopol Ward
9. Wendouree Ward

In partnership with Victorian councils, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is delivering a number of Stand for Council information sessions for the community and prospective candidates. These sessions can be attended either in-person or online.

By attending one of these sessions, participants will be provided with information about:

• Local government and the important role councils play for our local communities
• The role and responsibility of a Councillor, Mayor, Deputy Mayor and CEO
• The election process and candidate requirements
• What newly elected councillors can expect soon after the elections
• Councillor training and development opportunities.

The sessions will be held at various metropolitan and non-metropolitan locations across Victoria, with interested participants able to register to attend more than one session, including outside of their municipality.

The Wimmera Southern Mallee region (hosted by City of Ballarat) Candidate Information Session will be held on:

• Thursday, 8 August at the Ballarat Town Hall. To register visit the MAV Stand for Council web page

To support and encourage a range of diverse candidates the MAV will also be hosting a number of additional sessions for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities, youth, culturally and linguistically diverse and LGBTIQA+ communities.  

Key dates* for the upcoming local government election process are as follows:

*These dates may change subject to the proposed Local Government (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024.

By Donna Kelly

I have been wondering how this year’s council elections will go with no ward boundaries.

The decision to remove them was made this year by the Victorian Electoral Commission, with input from councils and ratepayers.

Thirty councils will change to a single-member ward structure and four councils will change to a multi-member ward structure – Buloke Shire Council, Northern Grampians Shire Council, Surf Coast Shire Council and Yarriambiack Shire Council.

The final five councils will change to an unsubdivided structure – Campaspe Shire Council, Gannawarra Shire Council, Moorabool Shire Council, Strathbogie Shire Council – and Hepburn Shire Council.

So we keep the same number of councillors but we all vote for anyone from any ward. Well, the wards don’t exist after this election, so we vote for anyone from any town, hamlet, farm…

But I just don’t know how that will work. For example, in our little town of Glenlyon, which used to be in Holcombe Ward, we voted for people we knew cared about the region – hopefully because they lived there.

And because all the Holcombe Ward people were voting for someone in Holcombe Ward, someone in Holcombe Ward ended up on the council – hopefully pushing for the rights of our little ward.

But now there is no requirement for a certain amount of councillors to be voted for any area. So, for example, with the majority of the Hepburn Shire ratepayers living in Daylesford and Creswick, I would imagine the majority of those elected will be from Daylesford and Creswick, that just makes sense.

But who will put their hand up to help with a battle in Glenlyon, or Little Hampton, or Hepburn? I know, the councillors will be asked to represent all of their constituents but human nature being what it is, wouldn’t you help your neighbour first?

And surely this no-ward structure means the only people being voted in are those with the highest profile already – like Mayor Cr Brian Hood who is oft quoted in media reports.

Not sure who else – but you know, Alla Wolf-Tasker, who I am sure would never want the role, would have a good chance, or one of the local former AFL footballers could be in like Flynn.

Sadly old John Smith, who lives down the road at nowhere’s-ville, despite being a great bloke, really keen on transparency, knows all about due diligence and finance and has plenty of time on his hands to make a communnity contribution, doesn’t have a snow flake’s chance in hell.

Money is the other thing that could come into play. If you are watching free-to-air television at the moment, you would have seen myriad commercials about some convention Clive Palmer is holding throughout Australia – with some American guy coming out because our two countries are so similar with the same great values. Hmmm. Yeah, nah.

Anyway, love him, or like me, loathe him, Palmer has money – although his Queensland workers were left wondering where it was – and has tried before to buy an election with campaign dough.

So, if a local resident wanted hard enough to get voted onto the Hepburn Shire Council, they could up their profile if they had enough cash to spend a bit on advertising themselves. And that just seems a bit unfair to me.

Cash may be king, but we should be living in a republic by now. Please note, under commerical law, The Local must accept advertising from anyone. We can start your campaign any time you are ready…

Anyway, it will be an interesting election and I am keen to see who is going to put their hand up. I did once you know. Way back in 2016 I guess. Not sure what I was thinking but I failed miserably.

It was the day of the election and the counting was under way. I was still a bit hopeful and a bit “oh no, what have I done” when a woman wearing a hat covered in fake birds stopped me outside Coles in Daylesford.

“You came last in the count,” she announced, quite loudly. I laughed. Thought she was joking and replied: “Oh, no, they are just doing the count now…” “Yes, I was there,” she said. “You polled last.”

So a nice comedown, from a woman in a hat covered in birds, although I did get enough votes to get my registration money back. And to be truthful, while I was a bit miffed, I did think later I had dodged a bullet.

Mind you it was before Covid so there were plenty of long drives to council meetings in Clunes and Creswick, in the dead of winter, through sleet and snow. Now, it’s all on Zoom out of the Daylesford Town Hall.

If you decide to run, I would love to hear from you. You know, just for the scoop. And do I have a campaign package just right for you. Just sayin’…