A final recommendation for the restructure of Greater Shepparton City Council is set to be considered by the Victorian Government, and some are not happy — including the council itself.
The recommendation follows a review of the council’s structure, which was required after changes to the Local Government Act by the government in 2020.
Under those changes, Greater Shepparton is required to change from its “unsubdivided” structure of nine councillors without wards to a structure of single councillors representing between five and 12 wards.
Although the changes are now required under law, they have drawn criticism among some of the five submissions lodged during the period of public feedback, including from council, which prefers the current unsubdivided structure be maintained.
“In council’s view, the proposed model will further challenge our ability to achieve gender and culturally diverse representation,” council said in its submission.
“The introduction of a ward structure will unnecessarily segregate our municipality and will likely lead to illogical representation where the elected member may not reflect the broader demographic of the ward they represent, causing disconnect for that community.”
Council also noted that, historically, its councillors had not been affiliated with political parties and it had concerns the changes would “create unnecessary divide amongst an otherwise cohesive and functioning council”.
Chris Hazelman has around 30 years’ experience as an elected local government representative of the former Shire of Shepparton and the City of Greater Shepparton, including seven as either shire president or mayor.
He also managed the Ethnic Council of Shepparton and District for 17 years.
Mr Hazelman lodged a submission to the review, saying “under no circumstance” could he support Greater Shepparton going to a single councillor per ward structure.
“Prior to Greater Shepparton being formed in 1997, this community overwhelmingly rejected a ward system in favour of the then seven councillors being elected at large, which was considered the best system to support our geographic spread and cultural diversity,” he said.
He pointed out that three of Greater Shepparton’s past four mayors have been Muslim, council has a female councillor of Pakistani origin and for the first time has an Indigenous councillor, all elected under the current system.
“The change means under the status quo, it’s around 4000 votes drawn from the entire municipality to be elected compared to around 2200 votes from 4500 in each ward,” Mr Hazelman said.
“I’m not sure it’s in Shepparton’s interests to be represented by middle-aged white people.”
In his submission, Shepparton resident Lachlan Duggan expressed his “profound disapproval of the government’s changes”.
He said they “undermine democracy” and are “very likely to negatively impact diversity”.
Commenting on the two proposals though, Mr Duggan said they were “sensible boundaries” that “group the various parts of the city in a cohesive manner”.
Mooroopna resident Peter Egglestone lodged a submission suggesting a structure of three wards, each with three councillors.
Mr Egglestone said that would make it easier to get councillors representing wards they live in, three “parochial” wards would be better than nine “parochial” wards, it would lesson the likelihood of bullying or intimidation of councillors and improve geographical representation within the municipality.
Another submission was lodged by Tatura resident Michael Curtis, who rejected council’s opposition to the changes and instead backed the second of the two proposals.
“It creates a much fairer distribution of Shepparton city and regional areas within the Greater Shepparton City Council boundary,” he said.
“At the moment, most of the money is spent in the city of Shepparton NOT Greater Shepparton.”
The review panel’s recommendation to Local Government Minister Melissa Horne has been made after considering the public feedback and the two recommendations that were put forward proposing ward boundaries and names.
Ms Horne will review the panel’s recommendation after it is submitted to her on Wednesday, August 30 and announce her decision at a later date.
The minister has been approached for a copy of the final recommendation.
The review panel’s preliminary report, including the two restructure options released for public feedback, can be found at https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/council-reviews/electoral-structure-reviews/shepparton