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DIVERSITY of towns, professional backgrounds and genders is reflected in the Strathbogie Shire’s new group of councillors, who were officially declared elected on Friday.
Despite the shire moving to an unsubdivided electoral structure this year, the results have replicated the areas represented by the previous ward-based structure, with two councillors from Euroa (Vicki Halsall and Greg Carlson), two from Nagambie (Fiona Stevens and Claire Ewart-Kennedy), one from Avenel (Scott Jeffery), one from near Violet Town (Laura Binks) and one from Strathbogie (Clark Holloway).
Female councillors outnumber males 4:3 in the new group, putting to rest fears the new council would be too heavily male-dominated after male candidates outnumbered females 15:10, with three of the ladies announcing their candidacies late in the game.
Four in the team are new to local government, while three have served as councillors (and mayors): Gregory Carlson, Laura Binks and Fiona Stevens.
Ms Binks was the only successful candidate from the council team of 2020-2024 which had been dismissed by the state government, with other suspended councillors Chris Raeburn and Robin Weatherald falling short of enough support for re-election.
An architect by trade, Laura Binks’ record as mayor and her message that council’s suspension was the necessary measure to flush out her poorly behaving colleagues, appears to have cut through with voters.
Avenel’s Scott Jeffery, a former BHP senior engineer and manager who now runs a management consulting business, was the shire’s most popular candidate, receiving 17 percent of all first preference votes.
Next most popular was Fiona Stevens, a retired police officer with eight years’ experience as a Mitchell Shire councillor, who is in the process of relocating to Nagambie.
With her background in media and politics (as a Liberal and Nationals staffer), Wahring resident Claire Ewart-Kennedy’s strong campaign appears to have been rewarded, securing the third highest number of first preference votes.
Euroa house renovator Vicki Halsall, in fourth place after preferences, has described herself as apolitical and has previously said she would seek to bring community expectations and council delivery closer together.
Euroa’s Gregory Carlson, a conservative-leaning farmer, will return to council after a 16-year break, having last served as a councillor in 2008, with three years under his belt as Strathbogie Shire Council’s mayor.
Strathbogie’s Clark Holloway – a former US Navy officer turned financial consultant – has come in at seventh place, securing a spot despite being relatively little-known when he was one of the first to announce his candidacy.
Some 7895 people voted in the election, representing 83.9 percent of the 9409 voters on the electoral roll.
Of those, 547 people (6.9pc) did not have their votes counted because their ballots were completed incorrectly.
The councillors-elect will be sworn in during a meeting at the council chamber on Tuesday, November 12, ending council’s 11 months of administration that began in December 2023 with the suspension of councillors.
The group will elect their mayor and deputy mayor at another meeting on Tuesday, November 19.
Interim CEO Tim Tamlin congratulated the new team in a media statement.
“This is really an exciting time for our community, and I am looking forward to getting to know each of them as we work through a comprehensive transition program,” he said.
“Returning to an elected council is something our community has been keen to see.”
One of the group’s first tasks will be creating the 2025-29 council plan, a key document which sets much of the council’s work over the next four years.
The group will meet under the watchful eye of a government-appointed municipal monitor, Marg Allan, with monitors having been appointed to all Victorian councils under administration in the previous term.
Monitor-turned-administrator Peter Stephenson said goodbye and thanked the shire community and council staff when he chaired his final meeting in October.
| Candidate | First preference votes |
| Scott Jeffery (1st elected) | 1265 |
| Fiona Stevens (2nd elected) | 990 |
| Claire Ewart-Kennedy (3rd elected) | 629 |
| Vicki Halsall (4th elected) | 568 |
| Laura Binks (5th elected) | 599 |
| Greg Carlson (6th elected) | 618 |
| Clark Holloway (7th elected) | 447 |
| Jimmy Davidson | 364 |
| Frank York | 330 |
| Amanda McClaren | 323 |
| Brad Smith | 307 |
| Christopher Raeburn | 300 |
| Jim Billings | 226 |
| Stephen Mahon | 194 |
| Robin Weatherald | 188 |