2017 Greater Geelong City Council election
All 11 seats on the City Council
6 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Party Independents Liberal
Seats before 4 5
Seats won 5 4
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 1
  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Labor Greens
Seats before 2 1
Seats won 1 1
Seat change Decrease 1 Steady

The 2017 Greater Geelong local election was held on 27 October 2017 to elect 11 councillors to the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria.[1]

More than 50 candidates contested across the four wards, including 19 in Brownbill.[2][3][4][5]

The election was conducted by post by the Victorian Electoral Commission.[1]

Background

The previous Greater Geelong City Council was elected in 2012, while Mayor Darryn Lyons was elected at a 2013 by-election.

The council was sacked by the Andrews Government in May 2016 after allegations of bullying, with administrators installed to manage city and council affairs as well as to remove cultural problems that led to the sacking.[6]

While all other local government areas in Victoria went to the polls in November 2016 as per usual, Geelong did not. Instead, a Citizen's Jury was established to help determine a way forward, including deciding on the structure a future council should take.

Eventually, legislation was introduced and passed the Victorian Parliament to bring forward elections to October 2017 instead of 2020, as was originally planned.[7]

Electoral system

For the first time in Geelong, councillors were elected to four multi-member wards:

  • Bellarine (3 councillors)
  • Brownbill (3 councillors)
  • Kardinia (3 councillors)
  • Windermere (2 councillors)

Before this, the council comprised 12 wards that each had a single councillor, as well as a directly-elected mayor. They were as follows:

  • Austin
  • Beangala
  • Brownbill
  • Buckley
  • Cheetham
  • Corio
  • Coryule
  • Cowie
  • Deakin
  • Kardinia
  • Kildare
  • Windermere

Proportional representation was introduced at the 2017 election, with instant-runoff voting used previously.

Results

Party Votes  % Seats Change
  Independent 5 Increase 1
  Independent Liberal 4 Decrease 1
  Independent Labor 1 Decrease 1
  Greens 1 Steady
  Animal Justice 0 Steady
  Socialist Alliance 0 Steady
  Independent Nationals 0 Steady
 Formal votes

Bellarine (3 councillors)

2017 Greater Geelong local election: Bellarine Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Liberal Stephanie Asher 10,984 27.38
Independent Liberal Trent Sullivan 3,437 8.57
Animal Justice Naomi Adams 3,129 7.80
Independent Tom Roe 2,501 6.23
Independent Petra Goerschel 954 2.38
Turnout
9 candidate declared[8]
Party Candidate Background
  Animal Justice Party Naomi Adams
  Independent Stephanie Asher Consultant
  Independent Anne Brackley
  Labor Jim Mason
  Greens Stephen McGain
  Independent Art Sims
  Liberal Trent Sullivan President of the Geelong Young Liberals, real estate agent
  Liberal John Van Beveren Lawyer and small business owner
  Independent Stewart Webb

Brownbill (3 councillors)

19 candidates declared, in alphabetical order[9]
Party Candidate Background
  Independent Mik Aidt Journalist and community radio host
  Independent George Ballas Community advocate, former Chairman of Pako Festa
  Independent Nicole Brown
  Socialist Alliance Sue Bull Activist and unionist
  Labor Melissa Cadwell Manager at Melbourne Health[10]
  Labor Ellen Csar Advocate and teaching aid
  Independent Freya Fidge HR Professional, family history of Councilors and Mayors[10]
  Animal Justice Party Jennifer Gamble Nurse
  Independent Terry Gillard Community Involvement[10]
  Socialist Alliance Sarah Hathway Student and activist
  Animal Justice Party Jacqui Jacka Nurse
  Liberal Michael King Businessman
  Liberal Eddy Kontelj Former Councillor
  Greens Sarah Mansfield General Practitioner
  Independent Peter Mitchell Business Solutions[10]
  Independent Peter Murrihy Former Councillor
  Nationals Charles Neal Tourism boat operator
  Independent Alec Sandner Former City of Greater Bendigo mayor
  Independent Stephen Simmonds

Kardinia (3 councillors)

9 candidates declared, in alphabetical order.[11]
Party Candidate Background
  Independent Bruce Harwood Former Councillor
  Labor Brent Lyons-Lee
  Independent Darren Hauenstein IT professional
  Independent Doug Mann Teacher
  Independent Pat Murnane
  Liberal Ron Nelson Former Councillor, former archivist.
  Greens Lois Newman Student, president of the Deakin Greens on Campus in Geelong.
  Animal Justice Party Elliot Taylor
  Independent Mary Walker Theatre director, former teacher

Windermere (2 councillors)

10 candidates declared, in alphabetical order.[12]
Party Candidate Background
  Independent Anthony Aitken
  Independent Tony Ansett Former Councillor
  Labor Robert Blaszczyk
  Independent Ken Dickens Owner of Corio Waste Management.
  Independent Jordan Grossman Engineer at Ford Motor Company
  Independent Kylie Grzybek Chief of Staff to transport Accident Commission CEO
  Labor Moshtagh Heidari
  Independent Marina Kozul Architect.
  Greens Greg Lacey
  Labor David Withington Public relations consultant

Election timeline

26 September 2017: Candidate nominations close

3 October: Windermere candidates forum at 94.7 The Pulse

10 October: Brownbill candidates forum at 94.7 The Pulse

10–12 October: Ballot packs are mailed out in the days around 10–12 October 2017.

27 October: Postal voting closes

28 October: Election Day

References

  1. 1 2 "2017 Greater Geelong City Council election results". Victorian Electoral Commission.
  2. ↑ "Bellarine Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "Brownbill Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "Kardinia Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Windermere Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "'Dysfunctional' Geelong council sacked for four years". 11 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Geelong Council officially sacked, elections to be held in 2017, as bill passes Parliament - ABC News". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "Bellarine Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017.
  9. ↑ "Brownbill Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Victorian Electoral Commission
  11. ↑ "Kardinia Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
  12. ↑ "Windermere Ward - Geelong Council 2017 · MattHrkac.com". www.matthrkac.com. Archived from the original on 23 August 2017.
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