By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS, JESSE GRAHAM AND PETER DOUGLAS
YARRA Ranges councillors have expressed their doubts over a pending change of wards for this year’s election, with multi-councillor wards introduced for the first time in the shire.
The Victorian Electoral Commission handed down its final report in a review of the Yarra Ranges’ electoral representation late last year, recommending a change to three large wards, each with three councillors.
The current Billanook Ward encompassing Mount Evelyn will be absorbed into the new O’Shannassy Ward along with the current O’Shannassy and Ryrie wards and parts of Chandler Ward.
The new O’Shannassy Ward will include the township of Mount Evelyn but not include Lilydale and will stretch to Matlock and Toorongo in the far east of the Yarra Ranges area.
Current Billanook Ward councillor Maria McCarthy said she was very unhappy with the decision to include Mount Evelyn in the largest and most far reaching ward.
“The area of Mount Evelyn gets left out of everything and it’s horrible,” she said.
“For the three councillors that represent that area it will be difficult to be fair and even over such a large space.”
“You’re potentially campaigning to thousands of new households and it’s going to be really difficult to get yourself out there to everyone.” – Cr Maria McCarthy
Cr McCarthy was not alone in her displeasure of the final review from the VEC with the Mount Evelyn Protection and Progress Association (MEEPPA) describing the review as “flawed from day one”.
Association member Franc Smith spoke with The Mail last month about Mount Evelyn being left off the original VEC submissions publications and how this affected town members.
“We are talking about the democratic election of the third tier of government and the people’s right to a transparent democratic process, which we believe has been seriously compromised,” he said.
Cr McCarthy also said for anyone from the Mount Evelyn area to effectively campaign in the new O’Shannassy Ward would be very costly and very difficult.
“The issue of campaigning has been taken away,” he said.
“You’re potentially campaigning to thousands of new households and it’s going to be really difficult to get yourself out there to everyone.”
Cr McCarthy also said that including Mount Evelyn with townships such as Yarra Junction and Warburton put members of the community at a disadvantage as well due to geographical distance.
“It’s not fair to the community either because they don’t know who they are voting for,” she said.
Mayor, Jason Callanan, who made submissions in favour of keeping the council’s nine wards, nine councillors make up, also raised the issue of cost, and said campaigning in a new, larger area was also a challenge.
“It’s establishing new contacts, new connections, understanding what that community wants or needs,” he said.
“A lot of us new, first-term councillors, we faced that challenge four years ago, so we’re still relatively fresh – but it will just be on a bit of a bigger scale, really, especially for the O’Shannassy ward.”
The Mail contacted Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins’ office about whether the minister would accept the VEC’s recommendation, and whether she would consider the sentiments of councillors against the change.
A spokesperson for the minister said a decision on the matter would be made in the “coming months”.
Cr Maria McCarthy said she would wait for the Local Government Minister’s decision before announcing where she will stand for re-election.
The next general council election for Yarra Ranges Council will be held in November 2016.
To read about the Dandenong Ranges’ Streeton ward, click here.
To read about the Yarra Valley’s O’Shannassy ward, click here.
