Conducted by the VEC, electoral representation reviews consider the number of councillors and the internal electoral structures of local councils. Each council is reviewed separately before every third local council general election.
Electoral subdivision reviews are conducted only to adjust the location of ward boundaries within a local municipality. Subdivision reviews only occur if one or more wards within the municipality are unlikely to meet the equality requirements at the next general election. The equality requirements stipulate that no ward can have 10% more or less voters than any other ward.
These reviews aim to provide fair and equitable representation for voters. Considerations include:
- similar municipalities across Victoria;
- communities of interest;
- demographics;
- growth potential; and
- any special circumstances in the particular municipality.
The representation and subdivision review processes were reviewed and updated after the 2008 local council elections.
The VEC is conducting ten electoral representation reviews and two subdivision reviews. See the scheduled reviews page for more details.
The VEC has prepared a summary that compares the electoral structures of state and territory capital city councils. View the Capital City Electoral Structures document (PDF 21kB, DOC 45kB) for more details.
