# Shire of Mornington Peninsula

The Mornington Peninsula Shire is a local government area in southeastern Metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located to the south of the Melbourne City Centre. It has an area of 724 square kilometres and in June 2018 it had a population of 165,822.

## History

The Mornington Peninsula Shire came into existence on 15 December 1994 when the state government amalgamated the previous Shires of Flinders, Hastings and Mornington.
On August 13, 2019, the Shire voted to declare a climate emergency in response to other similar declarations from councils around Australia.
The Shire abolished the 150-year-old tradition of reciting a prayer before Council meetings in December 2020. According to the Australian National Secular Lobby, the Shire was the first council or parliament to be removed from their list of government institutions that impose prayers on elected representatives”.

## Council
### Current composition

The Mornington Peninsula Shire is split into eleven single-member wards. The current council was elected at the 2024 council election:
| Ward | Party | Councillor | Notes |
| Beek Beek | Independent | Kate Roper | |
| Benbenjie | Independent | Max Patton | |
| Briars | Independent | Anthony Marsh | Mayor |
| Brokil | Independent | Patrick Binyon | |
| Coolart | Independent | David Gill | |
| Kackeraboite | Independent Liberal | Stephen Batty | |
| Moorooduc | Independent | Bruce Ranken | |
| Nepean | Independent | Andrea Allen | |
| Tanti | Independent | Paul Pingiaro | Deputy Mayor |
| Tootgarook | Independent | Cam Williams | |
| Warringine | Independent | Michael Stephens | |

## Election results
### 2024

2024 Victorian local elections: Mornington Peninsula :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Change |
| | Independent | Independent | 90,460 | 82.86 | 10 | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 10,013 | 9.17 | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 5,864 | 5.37 | 0 | |
| | Greens | Greens | 2,026 | 1.86 | 0 | |
| | Victorian Socialists | Victorian Socialists | 811 | 0.74 | 0 | |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 109,174 | 97.01 | | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 3,360 | 2.99 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 112,534 | 100.00 | 11 | |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 134,819 | 83.47 | | |

## Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the shire had a population of 168,948 up from 154,999 in the 2016 census
Population :
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Arthurs Seat | 394 | 414 |
| Balnarring | 2,270 | 2,371 |
| Balnarring Beach | 418 | 471 |
| Baxter | 2,162 | 2,166 |
| Bittern | 3,705 | 4,276 |
| Blairgowrie | 2,313 | 2,786 |
| Boneo | 354 | 314 |
| Cape Schanck | 446 | 569 |
| Capel Sound | 4,930 | 5,246 |
| Crib Point | 3,183 | 3,343 |
| Dromana | 5,803 | 6,626 |
| Fingal | 529 | 637 |
| Flinders | 905 | 1,130 |
| Hastings | 9,609 | 10,369 |
| HMAS Cerberus | 1,040 | 1,124 |
| Main Ridge | 416 | 453 |
| McCrae | 2,823 | 3,311 |
| Merricks | 190 | 184 |
| Merricks Beach | 127 | 157 |
| Merricks North | 426 | 423 |
| Moorooduc | 1,098 | 1,004 |
| Mornington | 23,989 | 25,759 |
| Mount Eliza | 17,888 | 18,734 |
| Mount Martha | 18,548 | 19,846 |
| Pearcedale^ | 3,821 | 3,867 |
| Point Leo | 158 | 178 |
| Portsea | 510 | 787 |
| Red Hill | 924 | 1,009 |
| Red Hill South | 603 | 708 |
| Rosebud | 13,195 | 14,381 |
| Rye | 8,416 | 9,438 |
| Safety Beach | 4,821 | 6,328 |
| Shoreham | 608 | 679 |
| Somers | 1,667 | 1,857 |
| Somerville | 11,336 | 11,767 |
| Sorrento | 1,592 | 2,013 |
| St Andrews Beach | 889 | 974 |
| Tootgarook | 2,869 | 3,178 |
| Tuerong | 354 | 357 |
| Tyabb | 3,338 | 3,449 |
^ - Territory divided with another LGA