Surf Coast Shire
Local government area in Victoria, Australia
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The Surf Coast Shire is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of 1,553 square kilometres (600 mi2). It had a population of 32,251 in June 2018.[1] It includes the coastal towns of Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Lorne and Torquay and the inland towns of Moriac and Winchelsea.
Surf Coast Shire | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Location in Victoria | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | Victoria | ||||||||||||
| Region | Barwon South West | ||||||||||||
| Established | 1994 | ||||||||||||
| Council seat | Torquay | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • Mayor | Cr Mike Bodsworth | ||||||||||||
| • State electorates | |||||||||||||
| • Federal divisions | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 1,553 km2 (600 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Total | 37,623 (2021)[1] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 24.226/km2 (62.745/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Gazetted | 9 March 1994[2] | ||||||||||||
| Website | Surf Coast Shire | ||||||||||||
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The Shire is governed and administered by the Surf Coast Shire Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Torquay. The Shire is named after its location on the popular surf coast of Victoria.
History
Formation
Before the 1990s local government reforms, the Surf Coast Shire's area was covered by three municipalities: the Shire of Winchelsea, the Shire of Barrabool, and the City of South Barwon. The Barrabool/South Barwon boundary was the Surf Coast Highway. This meant that Jan Juc and part of Torquay were in Barrabool, while the remainder of the Torquay district, including the traditional town centre, was in South Barwon.
When the City of Greater Geelong was created in May 1993, it initially took in the entire Torquay/Jan Juc area as far west as Ghazeepore Road. It also annexed areas on Geelong's fringe (Ceres, Wandana Heights, Waurn Ponds and Mount Duneed) which had previously belonged to Barrabool.[3]
In March 1994, the Surf Coast Shire was formed from the amalgamation of the Torquay/Jan Juc area from Greater Geelong, the remainder of the Shire of Barrabool, and the Shire of Winchelsea (less the Birregurra and Barwon Downs districts, which were lost to the Shire of Colac).[2] The Surf Coast Shire's modern boundaries were settled six months later when the Lake Murdeduke and Mount Gellibrand area, part of the territory lost to Colac, was brought back into the Shire.[4]
Representation and structure
Post-2008, following an electoral representation review, the decision was made to re-subdivide the municipality into four wards, the current wards are Torquay, Anglesea, Winchelsea and Lorne. Between 2004 and 2008, the Shire was an unsubdivided municipality and as a result, the entire municipality voted to elect nine councillors. Between 1996 and 2004, the municipality was subdivided into six wards, where three councillors per ward were elected from the Torquay and Anglesea wards, and one councillor per ward was elected from the Lorne, Winchelsea, Moriac and Aireys Inlet wards. A position of Deputy Mayor was created in 2004, but it was abolished for the 2005 mayoral election.
Council
Current composition
The council is composed of three wards electing three councillors each.
| Ward | Councillor | Affiliation | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otway Range Ward | Mike Bodsworth | Independent | Mayor | |
| Libby Stapleton | Independent | Deputy Mayor | ||
| Leon Walker | Independent | |||
| Torquay | Paul Barker | Libertarian | ||
| Liz Pattison | Independent | |||
| Phoebe Crockett | Greens | |||
| Winchelsea | Joel Grist | Independent Libertarian | ||
| Tony Phelps | Independent | |||
| Adrian Schonfelder | Independent Labor | |||
List of former and current mayors
- Cr Noel Bates (1995–1997)
- Cr Henry Love (1997–1998)
- Cr Julie Hansen (1998–2000)
- Cr Mike Barrow (2000–2001)
- Cr Beth Davidson (2001–2004)
- Cr Keith Grossman (2004–2005)
- Cr Libby Mears (2005–2006)
- Cr Rose Hodge (2006–2007)
- Cr Dean Webster (2007–2008)
- Cr Libby Mears (2008–2009)
- Cr Libby Coker (2009–2010)
- Cr Dean Webster (2010–2011)
- Cr Brian McKiterick (2011–2012)
- Cr Libby Coker (2012–2013)
- Cr Rose Hodge (2013–2014)
- Cr Margot Smith (2014–2015)
- Cr Rose Hodge (2015–2016)
- Cr Brian McKiterick (2016-2017)
- Cr David Bell (2017-2018)
- Cr Rose Hodge (2018–2020)
- Cr Libby Stapleton (2020–2022)
- Cr Liz Pattison (2022–2024)
Administration and Governance
The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Torquay Municipal Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at its Municipal Office in Torquay.
Election results
2024
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 12,164 | 49.67 | 5 |  | |||
| Back to Basics Team | 5,604 | 22.88 | +22.88 | 3[a] |  3 | ||
| Greens | 4,284 | 17.49 | 0 |  1 | |||
| Independent Labor | 2,437 | 9.95 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Formal votes | 24,489 | 97.43 | |||||
| Informal votes | 648 | 2.57 | |||||
| Total | 25,137 | 100.0 | |||||
| Registered voters / turnout | 30,125 | 83.44 | |||||
2016
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Libby Coker | 2,504 | 48.50 | |||
| Independent | Margot Ann Smith | 1,393 | 27.00 | |||
| Independent | Jenna Robinson | 1,268 | 24.6 | |||
| Turnout | 6,891 | 76.20% | ||||
| Labor hold | Swing | |||||
| Independent hold | Swing | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Rose Hodge | 2,866 | 27.20 | |||
| Independent | David Bell | 1,962 | 18.60 | |||
| Liberal | Brian McKiterick | 1,268 | 16.00 | |||
| Greens | Marian Smedley | 1,529 | 14.50 | |||
| Independent | Martin Paul Duke | 1,522 | 14.20 | |||
| Independent | Joe Remenyi | 993 | 9.40 | |||
| Turnout | 19,367 | 68.96% | ||||
| Labor hold | Swing | |||||
| Independent hold | Swing | |||||
| Liberal hold | Swing | |||||
| Independent gain from Greens | Swing | |||||
Townships and localities
According to the 2021 census, the shire had a population of 37,694, up from 29,397 in the 2016 census.[6]
| Population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Aireys Inlet | 802 | 979 |
| Anglesea | 2,545 | 3,208 |
| Bambra | 101 | 115 |
| Barrabool | 235 | 247 |
| Bellbrae | 865 | 1,346 |
| Bells Beach | 130 | 151 |
| Benwerrin | 5 | 9 |
| Big Hill | 261 | 281 |
| Birregurra^ | 828 | 942 |
| Boonah | 21 | 18 |
| Breamlea^ | 162 | 151 |
| Buckley | 211 | 228 |
| Connewarre^ | 788 | 953 |
| Deans Marsh | 269 | 368 |
| Eastern View | 35 | 47 |
| Fairhaven | 296 | 390 |
| Freshwater Creek | 414 | 454 |
| Gherang | 370 | 391 |
| Gnarwarre | 267 | 297 |
| Inverleigh^ | 1,474 | 1,746 |
| Jan Juc | 3,683 | 4,151 |
| Lorne | 1,114 | 1,327 |
| Modewarre | 276 | 277 |
| Moggs Creek | 89 | 120 |
| Moriac | 782 | 852 |
| Mount Duneed^ | 1,578 | 6,182 |
| Mount Moriac | 240 | 251 |
| Ombersley^ | 97 | 93 |
| Paraparap | 151 | 167 |
| Pennyroyal^ | 86 | 110 |
| Torquay | 13,258 | 18,534 |
| Wensleydale | 107 | 95 |
| Winchelsea^ | 1,954 | 2,456 |
| Winchelsea South | 179 | 171 |
| Wurdiboluc | 138 | 147 |
^ - Territory divided with another LGA
See also
Notes
- Including one endorsed Libertarian Party member and one independent Libertarian member.