The electoral structure review for Mount Alexander Council began this week, with preliminary submissions opening on Wednesday 8 February.

At present, the Shire is divided into five wards with a total of seven councillors.

One ward (Castlemaine) is represented by three councillors while the other four wards (Calder, Coliban, Loddon River and Tarrengower) have one councillor each.

Mount Alexander Shire is one of 12 rural shire councils that will undergo electoral structure reviews throughout 2023-24.

Under the Local Government Act 2020, the changes stipulate that all small and large rural shire councils must now have electoral structures that are either unsubdivided, subdivided with single-councillor wards, or multi-councillor wards with an equal number of councillors per ward.

The reviews will be conducted by independent electoral representation advisory panels.

The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) will provide technical and administrative support to the panels.

Mount Alexander Shire Council’s review will continue until 24 May.

At present, Mount Alexander Shire is one of 39 councils across Victoria that must have a compliant electoral structure in time for the October 2024 elections.

Issues to be considered are: what is an appropriate number of councillors (the number should be between five and 12)? If subdivided, how many wards should there be? How many councillors should represent each ward? Are the ward boundaries appropriate? Should the names of wards be changed?

The Times inquired this week whether the Council would be making its own submission to the review. Information regarding the nature of that submission – or whether in fact a submission was being made at all – was unavailable.

People interested in making a submission can map their proposed electoral structure online using the public submission tool available on the VEC website at vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/council-reviews/ electoral-structure-reviews.

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 10 February 2023.