Great divide not on for Officer

By Russell Bennett
OFFICER will lie entirely in Cardinia Shire Council’s Central Ward if local councillors have their way.
They voted at Monday night’s council meeting to relocate the proposed Ranges Ward boundary to Brunt Road and Whiteside Road to include Officer in Central Ward.
The alternative would have seen Officer split between Ranges and Central.
Under the council’s response to the Victorian Electoral Commission’s Preliminary Electoral Representation Review report, Beaconsfield would be included in Ranges Ward and both Port and Bunyip would be retained as single-member wards.
Central Ward councillor Collin Ross said Officer’s progress association felt that dividing the town down the centre would pose “real issues”.
“This backs up what we put forward to the electoral commission,” he said.
Cr Ross also said that Bunyip and Port both had unique characteristics – “Bunyip with its railway towns and Port with its agriculture” – and that the two could not be covered in one ward.
“It would be sad if we finished with two councillors for the whole area, not one in each,” he said.
Cr Ross said he was against an un-subdivided municipality and that, through the ward system, the majority of voters got a chance to see the councillor they wanted get in.
But Cr Owen was not convinced.
“Beaconsfield will be carved off Central Ward into Ranges but should be Central because it’s a growth corridor town,” he said.
“Whoever is elected at the next election needs to meet the needs of their ward.”
Cr Ross concluded by saying: “What it comes down to is votes per councillor and having the right quotas where voters get the same representation across the shire.
“Ranges Ward hasn’t grown in numbers. It needs something of significance added to maintain two councillors.
“I support this and hope we get a result”.