At its December 2011 GM, Council resolved to hold a referendum, in conjunction with the Local Government elections in September 2012, on whether or not to introduce a ward system within the Palerang LGA.
The subject of wards, or electoral ridings as they were previously known, has been under discussion since Palerang came into existence. Both the former Talleganda and Yarrowlumla Shires operated under ward systems, but wards were eliminated without any public consultation when the two shires were amalgamated.
Wards are simply a means of dividing a local government area into several electoral regions for the purpose of local government elections, in the same way that states are divided into electoral Districts, and the nation into electoral Divisions, for state and federal elections respectively.
The matter of local government referenda, with particular reference to the establishment of wards, is discussed at length elsewhere on this website. Suffice it to say that the decision to establish a ward system must be taken via a referendum—the matter cannot simply be determined by Council. Further, the way in which a local government area can be divided into wards is constrained by the Local Government Act, to some extent by the population distribution, but primarily by the number of councillors involved.
In the case of Palerang, where we have nine councillors, the requirements that 1) all wards be represented by the same number of councillors; and 2) there be a minimum of three councillors per ward, effectively means that there is only one practical configuration for Palerang: three wards, represented by three councillors each. The additional requirement that the population in any ward be within 10% of all others will also dictate, to a large extent, ward boundaries. While Council will generally recommend appropriate boundary locations, these will ultimately be determined, prior to each election, by the electoral commission.
The following map gives some indication of the population distribution in Palerang, and an idea of where ward boundaries might be drawn—the actual boundaries, however, will be determined by the electoral commission, in consultation with Council.
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Comment from David McDonald
23 December 2011 @ 18:44
Thanks Pete, this seems a complicated issue in terms of both the local govt technicalities and what it means for the Palerang community, by which I mean a sense of identity for Palerang as an entity, and the identities of grouping of localities within Palerang.
Looking fwd to yr future updates including, as you foreshadowed, the possibility of original motions and rescission motions on the topic!
Regards – David (from Beechworth, Vic.)