Former City of Greater Shepparton councillors have concerns the proposed new ward-based structure could lead to rivalries developing between wards at the expense of the municipality’s overall good.
A review of Greater Shepparton City Council’s electoral structure stated council’s “unsubdivided” structure of nine councillors without wards was no longer permitted under Victoria’s Local Government Act 2020 and recommended a change to a “subdivided” structure of single councillors each representing one of nine wards.
The preliminary report by an electoral representation advisory panel established by Victorian Local Government Minister Melissa Horne released the report for public consultation and feedback.
Dennis Patterson was a councillor for eight years and mayor from 2016 to 2017.
He could see merit in retaining the current structure and adopting the new one.
“It’s a positive and a negative,’’ he said.
“It very much depends on who you get to stand in each ward of course.
“When you speak to old councillors who have experienced the old wards, it was very much, ‘Okay, I’ll support you in this particular project if you support me in that particular project,’ so you got a lot of ganging up, basically, against other wards so unless you could work with everyone, you got nothing done, so that’s the danger of going into wards.
“I think from the negative perspective, I think the last year I was on council, probably five of the councillors would have been in one ward and there were some very good and experienced councillors in that ward, so you can have the problem of you’re going to lose very good councillors because only one can be elected out of that ward.”
That issue could be alleviated somewhat by it not being a requirement that a candidate for a particular council ward live in the ward they’re standing for election in.
Whether it discouraged some people from standing was unknown.
Retired councillor Kevin “Gunna” Ryan worked under the ward system during his 20 years on the former Rodney Shire Council, part of which was absorbed into the amalgamation that created Greater Shepparton City Council in 1994.
He was a councillor with the new council for two decades.
“There was no doubt, back in the old Shire of Rodney days, the week leading up to the budget was always a mad rush for a councillor from one ward to support a councillor from the other ward to get his or her project up that they might have in their own ward,” he said.
“Whereas, when it is an unsubdivided municipality you’re there to look after, you are responsible to the whole of the municipality, not just one-ninth of it.
“I, personally, am not in favour of it.”
The restructure will not change council’s external boundaries.
Internally though, the panel has recommended two potential models for Greater Shepparton.
The only differences between the models are where the ward boundaries are and their potential names.
The Victorian Electoral Commission is urging members of the public to provide feedback on the proposed ward boundaries and names with the period for submissions closing at 5pm on Wednesday, July 26.
More information can be found via the VEC website: https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/council-reviews/electoral-structure-reviews/shepparton
The changes are expected to be in place for the next council elections in 2024.