The Victorian Government this week announced the final results of its electoral structure review, which will break the Mildura Rural City Council electorate into nine single-councillor wards.
Chief Executive Officer Martin Hawson said despite Council’s reservations about the new structure, the organisation would adapt ahead of the 2024 Local Government Election in October this year.
“We had reservations about the electoral structure review and the practicalities of how a single-councillor ward model would work with a municipality of our size, covering more than 22,000 square kilometres,” Mr Hawson said.
“It’s going to mean we have one or two councillors needing to represent constituents over a huge area, while others will be in a very different scenario.
“We provided feedback to this effect in terms of the potential problems this could create, and if you read the review report, this feedback was acknowledged.
“However the government has decided to continue with the move to a single-councillor ward structure for our region and we’ll work within the new structure to ensure the best interests of our community.
“The challenge for the Victorian Electoral Commission now will be how this new structure is understood by our community.”
The new structure for the Mildura Local Government Area will see single-councillor wards varying in size from 17,252 square kilometres for the new ‘Sunset Country’ Ward, to just four square kilometres closer to the city centre.
The nine new wards, which were named by the Victorian Government, are:
| Ward | Area (square kilometres) |
|---|---|
| City Gate | 5 |
| Henderson Park | 4 |
| Karadoc | 33 |
| Kings Billabong | 83 |
| Lake Ranfurly | 19 |
| Mildura Wetlands | 4 |
| Millewa | 4,675 |
| Nowingi Place | 5 |
| Sunset Country | 17,252 |
