Warrnambool council comes up with own ward model ahead of vote

And while the council was given three options to divide up the municipality ahead of the 2024 election, it has instead come up with its own alternative because of "significant drawbacks" with the other models.

Just how Warrnambool councillors want to see the municipality carved up ahead of the next election will be the subject of a public meeting which will be held the council's reception room at 5.45pm on Monday, July 24.

Councillors will discuss its draft submission to the electoral review at the meeting with the seven tasked with agreeing on whether any of three options to create seven wards will work or if they will back a fourth hybrid option offered up by council officers.

The city's electoral structure is being reviewed by the independent Electoral Representation Advisory Panel which will ultimately make a recommendation to the Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne on a seven-ward structure for Warrnambool.

The council is also required by the new Local Government Act to reimburse the Victorian Electoral Commission for the cost of undertaking the review imposed on it - a cost of more than $53,000 that the city has labelled in its agenda for Monday's meeting as "significant".

Warrnambool has been an unsubdivided electorate since 2004 but changes to legislation mean the municipality must return to a single-member ward structure ahead of the 2024 local government elections.

For the first time in two decades, voters will only vote for candidates running in their electorate rather than getting a say on all candidates. In recent elections, the number of candidate vying for a place at the city's table has been more than 20.

The advisory panel appears settled on seven wards for Warrnambool, but the boundaries and names for each ward have yet to be determined.

And while the review proposed three different models, the council was not entirely happy with any of them.

"While each of these three proposed models have merit, they all have significant drawbacks that would undermine the representation of Warrnambool's communities of interest and do not offer a proposed model that could be considered ideal within the confines of the legislative requirements," the agenda says.

The council's own plan would ensure Dennington was not divided, gives Merrivale and South Warrnambool its own ward and keeps Woodford and Bushfield in a rural ward rather than lumping it in with parts of north Warrnambool.

The proposed wards would be called: Botanic, Dennington, Hopkins River, Merri River, Moyjil, Wollaston and Russells Creek.

Since the last review into electoral boundaries, a new Local Government Act was passed which requires that councils must have a single-member ward structure unless ministerial discretion is given to consider alternative structures.

This discretion was given to rural shires but not to metropolitan councils or regional cities which means that Warrnambool has no option but to return to a single-member ward electoral structure.

Mayor Debbie Arnott said Warrnambool she looked forward to discussing with councillors how that could work in a way that best represented the communities that comprised the municipality as a whole.

The public has a chance to have a say with submissions on the proposed changes closing at 5pm on Wednesday July 26.

A public hearing will be held virtually at 10am on August 2 which will be attended by the mayor, chief executive officer Andrew Mason and the city's governance manager.

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