SIX candidates are contesting the by-election to fill the Watson Ward seat on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council left vacant by the resignation of Paul Mercurio.
Mercurio, elected in November 2020, resigned in December 2022 after his election as the Labor MP for Hastings at the November state election.
Standing at the by-election will be former Cerberus Ward councillor Kate Roper; Stefan Borzecki, one of four candidates defeated by Mercurio in 2020; Rob Clarke; Michael Stephens; Susie Beveridge, also a former councillor; and former candidate Ben Loois.
Nominations closed midday Tuesday 14 February and the postal ballot will be held in March.
At 5pm six candidates were listed on the Victorian Electoral Commission website.
The Victorian Electoral Commission will begin to send out ballot voting packs containing candidates’ details on Tuesday 28 February and voting closes at 6pm on Friday 17 March.
Results will be known on Friday 24 March.
Roper was elected to represent Cerberus Ward in 2016 but lost to Lisa Dixon at the 2020 elections after a count of second preferences despite having more first preference votes.
Borzecki was one of five candidates for Watson Ward in 2020, along with the winner, Mercurio (55.92% of first preference votes), Louise Page, Michael Stephens and Bernhard Loois.
Mercurio’s resignation from council on 8 December was followed less than two weeks later by Seawinds Ward councillor Kerri McCafferty, effectively reducing the 11-member council to nine.
The number of councillors did not rise to 10 until earlier this month with the appointment of McCafferty’s replacement, former councillor Simon Brooks, after a countback of votes cast in 2020 (“Brooks back in council” The News 6/2/23).
Community lobby group Save Westernport has said Watson Ward candidates should have a “a sense of environmental responsibility and awareness” (“Call for candidate to ‘balance’ council” The News 17/1/23).
“Despite the valiant call from certain councillors and community groups to put what’s best for the peninsula ahead of short term financial gains, too often meaningful debate is pre-empted by the undue influence of developers over a powerful voting bloc in council,” the group’s president Candy Van Rood said.
“Save Westernport hopes a more diverse range of candidates will restore the balance that many perceive was lacking on the council during 2022.”
She said the “urgent need to conserve and regenerate environmental resilience” on the peninsula had been highlighted by a Victorian Auditor General’s report which blamed local councils “for the devastating loss of biodiversity in Victoria”.
“Throughout 2022, unsustainable and ill-suited development proposals that threaten biodiversity on the peninsula were put before councillors to consider whether to recommend approval of plans for one insensitive, inappropriately scaled project after another.”
First published in the Western Port News – 15 February 2023
