# 2017 Greater Geelong City Council election

The 2017 Greater Geelong local election was held on 27 October 2017 to elect 11 councillors to the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria.
More than 50 candidates contested across the four wards, including 19 in Brownbill.
The election was conducted by post by the Victorian Electoral Commission.

## Background

The previous Greater Geelong City Council was elected in 2012, while Mayor Darryn Lyons was elected at a 2013 by-election.
The council was sacked by the Andrews Government in May 2016 after allegations of bullying, with administrators installed to manage city and council affairs as well as to remove cultural problems that led to the sacking.
While all other local government areas in Victoria went to the polls in November 2016 as per usual, Geelong did not. Instead, a Citizen's Jury was established to help determine a way forward, including deciding on the structure a future council should take.
Eventually, legislation was introduced and passed the Victorian Parliament to bring forward elections to October 2017 instead of 2020, as was originally planned.

## Electoral system

For the first time in Geelong, councillors were elected to four multi-member wards:
* Bellarine (3 councillors)
* Brownbill (3 councillors)
* Kardinia (3 councillors)
* Windermere (2 councillors)
Before this, the council comprised 12 wards that each had a single councillor, as well as a directly-elected mayor. They were as follows:
* Austin
* Beangala
* Brownbill
* Buckley
* Cheetham
* Corio
* Coryule
* Cowie
* Deakin
* Kardinia
* Kildare
* Windermere
Proportional representation was introduced at the 2017 election, with instant-runoff voting used previously.

## Results

| Party | Party | Party | Seats | Change |
| | Independent | Independent | 5 | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 4 | 1 |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 1 | 1 |
| | Greens | Greens | 1 | |
| | Animal Justice | Animal Justice | 0 | |
| | Socialist Alliance | Socialist Alliance | 0 | |
| | Independent Nationals | Independent Nationals | 0 | |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | | |

### Bellarine (3 councillors)

2017 Greater Geelong local election: Bellarine Ward :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Independent Liberal | Stephanie Asher | 10,984 | 27.38 |
| | Independent Liberal | Trent Sullivan | 3,437 | 8.57 |
| | Animal Justice | Naomi Adams | 3,129 | 7.80 |
| | Independent | Tom Roe | 2,501 | 6.23 |
| | Independent | Petra Goerschel | 954 | 2.38 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | |
9 candidate declared :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Animal Justice Party | Naomi Adams | |
| Independent | Stephanie Asher | Consultant |
| Independent | Anne Brackley | |
| Labor | Jim Mason | |
| Greens | Stephen McGain | |
| Independent | Art Sims | |
| Liberal | Trent Sullivan | President of the Geelong Young Liberals, real estate agent |
| Liberal | John Van Beveren | Lawyer and small business owner |
| Independent | Stewart Webb | |

### Brownbill (3 councillors)

19 candidates declared, in alphabetical order :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Independent | Mik Aidt | Journalist and community radio host |
| Independent | George Ballas | Community advocate, former Chairman of Pako Festa |
| Independent | Nicole Brown | |
| Socialist Alliance | Sue Bull | Activist and unionist |
| Labor | Melissa Cadwell | Manager at Melbourne Health |
| Labor | Ellen Csar | Advocate and teaching aid |
| Independent | Freya Fidge | HR Professional, family history of Councilors and Mayors |
| Animal Justice Party | Jennifer Gamble | Nurse |
| Independent | Terry Gillard | Community Involvement |
| Socialist Alliance | Sarah Hathway | Student and activist |
| Animal Justice Party | Jacqui Jacka | Nurse |
| Liberal | Michael King | Businessman |
| Liberal | Eddy Kontelj | Former Councillor |
| Greens | Sarah Mansfield | General Practitioner |
| Independent | Peter Mitchell | Business Solutions |
| Independent | Peter Murrihy | Former Councillor |
| Nationals | Charles Neal | Tourism boat operator |
| Independent | Alec Sandner | Former City of Greater Bendigo mayor |
| Independent | Stephen Simmonds | |

### Kardinia (3 councillors)

9 candidates declared, in alphabetical order. :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Independent | Bruce Harwood | Former Councillor |
| Labor | Brent Lyons-Lee | |
| Independent | Darren Hauenstein | IT professional |
| Independent | Doug Mann | Teacher |
| Independent | Pat Murnane | |
| Liberal | Ron Nelson | Former Councillor, former archivist. |
| Greens | Lois Newman | Student, president of the Deakin Greens on Campus in Geelong. |
| Animal Justice Party | Elliot Taylor | |
| Independent | Mary Walker | Theatre director, former teacher |

### Windermere (2 councillors)

10 candidates declared, in alphabetical order. :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Independent | Anthony Aitken | |
| Independent | Tony Ansett | Former Councillor |
| Labor | Robert Blaszczyk | |
| Independent | Ken Dickens | Owner of Corio Waste Management. |
| Independent | Jordan Grossman | Engineer at Ford Motor Company |
| Independent | Kylie Grzybek | Chief of Staff to transport Accident Commission CEO |
| Labor | Moshtagh Heidari | |
| Independent | Marina Kozul | Architect. |
| Greens | Greg Lacey | |
| Labor | David Withington | Public relations consultant |

## Election timeline

26 September 2017: Candidate nominations close
3 October: Windermere candidates forum at 94.7 The Pulse
10 October: Brownbill candidates forum at 94.7 The Pulse
10–12 October: Ballot packs are mailed out in the days around 10–12 October 2017.
27 October: Postal voting closes
28 October: Election Day