Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne has accepted the recommendation for a single-member ward structure for Casey Council, following an electoral structure review undertaken by the Electoral Representation Advisory Panels (ERAPs).
On 10 October 2022, the Minister for Local Government announced the establishment of two ERAPs to undertake reviews of 39 councils whose electoral structures were not compliant with the requirements of the Local Government Act 2020.
Under the Act, there are three permissible electoral structures, including single-member wards, uniform multi-member wards, and unsubdivided.
All metropolitan, interface, and regional city councils must have a single-member ward structure, and all rural councils (31 in total) are permitted to have any of the three permissible electoral structures.
The reviews undertaken by ERAPs included consideration of the total number of councillors for each municipality; the ward structure, including the number of wards (if subdivided), the number of councillors per ward, ward boundaries, and names.
The ERAPs have provided their final reports to the Minister for Local Government.
The Minister has considered these reports and accepted the recommendations to alter the electoral structures of all 39 councils.
The structure amendment will see 30 councils change to a single-member ward structure, including Casey Council which has been governed by administrators rather than councillors since 2020 and currently sits on six wards with a total of 11 councillors.
Four councils will change to a multi-member ward structure: Buloke Shire Council, Northern Grampians Shire Council, Surf Coast Shire Council, and Yarriambiack Shire Council.
A further five councils will change to an unsubdivided structure: Campaspe Shire Council, Gannawarra Shire Council, Hepburn Shire Council, Moorabool Shire Council, and Strathbogie Shire Council.
