New Local Government Bill brings changes to the Shire

31 March 2020

A new Bill formally passed in the Legislative Assembly late March will bring changes to 79 councils across the state.

The prime aim of the new Bill will be to do away with the complexities and amendments of the Local Government Act 1989 for a much simpler framework.

The new Local Government Act 2020 will affect the Mornington Peninsula Shire’s electoral roll with the introduction of new enrolment requirements.

 From 2024, only residents whose primary residence lies within the Mornington Peninsula Shire will be automatically eligible to vote in local government elections. Property owners who don’t live in the electorate must opt-in by applying to have their name entered on the electoral roll.

During the drafting of the Bill there was a proposal to have single member wards only, “to make councils more accountable”, the Minister for Local Government said in his press statement last November.

However, after much debate the amendment now states “specific councils can consist of multimember wards as well as default single member ward structures”.

There will be no change to the method voting.  The electorate will continue having a choice of attendance voting or postal voting.

Other changes include mandatory candidate training and the position of Deputy Mayor to be optional.