At the October 2024 election, Greater Geelong changed shape. The old structure — four multi-councillor wards, with Bellarine, Brownbill and Kardinia electing three apiece and Windermere electing two — was replaced with eleven single-councillor wards. One councillor each. Four-year terms.
It's a better system for accountability. Under the old structure, if you had a problem in Lara you could ring any of the two Windermere councillors and each could reasonably assume the other had it. Now there is exactly one person whose name is on your patch, and no ambiguity about whose job it is.
The trade-off is that eleven separate local mandates have to be reconciled into one budget — and that is where things get interesting.
01 / The directoryYour ward, your councillor, your contact.
Councillors were officially declared on 14 November 2024 after recounts in Connewarre, Charlemont and Deakin. Six incumbents were returned; five new councillors joined. Below is the full group, listed alphabetically by ward.
The "recurring themes" under each ward are my own characterisation of what has dominated public discussion in that part of the municipality — not a formal audit of council records or a statement of any councillor's position.
I've written them because I think the differences between wards are the most under-discussed fact about Geelong local government. If you live in one of these wards and think I've read it wrong, tell me and I'll correct it.
Figure 01 · Ward directory
The 2024–2028 councillor group.
Barrabool Hills Ward
Deputy MayorCr Ron Nelson · re-elected 2024
Geelong's western fringe — the Barrabool Hills, Highton and surrounding rural-residential land.
- Development pressure on rural-residential and semi-rural land
- Road capacity and safety on semi-rural roads carrying suburban traffic volumes
- Bushfire preparedness and vegetation management on the urban–rural interface
Charlemont Ward
Cr Emma Sinclair · new in 2024
The Armstrong Creek growth corridor — Geelong's fastest-developing residential frontier.
- Infrastructure lag — houses arriving faster than roads, schools and community facilities
- Missing community infrastructure in new estates: playgrounds, halls, sporting fields
- Connectivity — path and road links between estates that were built as islands
Cheetham Ward
Cr Melissa Cadwell · re-elected 2024
Coastal Bellarine communities on the ocean side of the peninsula.
- Coastal erosion and foreshore management
- Peak-season tourism pressure on parking, waste and local amenity
- Housing availability where short-stay accommodation competes with permanent housing
Connewarre Ward
Cr Elise Wilkinson · re-elected 2024 by three votes after a recount
Barwon Heads, Connewarre and the surrounding coastal and wetland areas.
- Environmental protection around internationally significant wetlands
- Balancing tourism and residential amenity in small coastal townships
- Traffic and parking pressure at peak periods
Corio Ward
Cr Anthony Aitken · re-elected 2024
The northern suburbs — Corio, Norlane and surrounds.
- Investment in community facilities — including the Northern Aquatic & Community Hub and the newly named Dhilpamarna Auditorium
- Entrenched socio-economic disadvantage and access to services
- Local employment pathways and youth opportunity
- Housing quality and neighbourhood renewal
Deakin Ward
Cr Andrew Katos · new in 2024
The southern suburbs around Waurn Ponds and Grovedale, including the Deakin University precinct.
- Growth around the university and health precinct
- Traffic and Ring Road interface pressures
- Student housing and its effect on established residential streets
Hamlyn Heights Ward
Cr Eddy Kontelj · re-elected 2024
Established western suburbs including Hamlyn Heights and Bell Post Hill.
- Ageing infrastructure — footpaths, kerbs, drainage in established streets
- Tree canopy and open space maintenance
- Infill development pressure in established residential areas
Kardinia Ward
MayorMayor Cr Dr Stretch Kontelj OAM · new to this ward in 2024, previously councillor for Kildare 1998–2015 and Mayor 2001–2002
Central Geelong — the CBD, Geelong West, North Geelong, Newtown, Drumcondra and Rippleside.
- CBD revitalisation — the Mayor's stated central priority, including retail vacancy and activation
- "Back to basics" service delivery: roads, footpaths, kerbs and drains
- Safety and amenity in the city centre
- Parking and access for CBD businesses
Leopold Ward
Cr Trent Sullivan · re-elected 2024, Mayor 2022–2024
The northern side of the Bellarine Peninsula, including Leopold and part of Drysdale.
- Rapid residential growth in Leopold with infrastructure catching up behind it
- Bellarine road network capacity and safety
- Community and sporting facility provision for a growing population
Murradoc Ward
Cr Rowan Story AM, RFD · new in 2024
The tip of the Bellarine Peninsula, including St Leonards and part of Drysdale.
- An ageing population and access to health and aged-care services
- Distance from services — the practical cost of living at the end of the peninsula
- Coastal management and township infrastructure
- Public transport frequency
You Yangs Ward
My wardCr Chris Burson · new in 2024
The rural north of the municipality — Lara, Batesford, Moorabool, Anakie and surrounds.
- Lara's growth without a matching increase in local services and facilities
- Avalon Airport and the employment precinct — local benefit versus local impact
- Transport connectivity — no continuous safe cycling or walking route toward Geelong; bus frequency
- Rural road maintenance across a geographically large, low-density ward
- Bushfire risk around the You Yangs and rural interface
Councillor emails follow the council's published firstname.lastname@geelongcity.vic.gov.au format. Direct mobile numbers are published for some councillors and not others. The authoritative, current list — with all published phone numbers and the ward boundary maps — is at geelongcity.vic.gov.au/council/mayor-and-councillors. Ward boundary maps are also available from the Victorian Electoral Commission.
02 / How to actually get a responseMaking contact work.
Figure 02 · Contacting your councillor
Four things that get things fixed.
03 / The core argumentEleven wards. One mayoralty. Do the arithmetic.
The Mayor of Greater Geelong is not directly elected by residents. The Mayor is chosen by the eleven councillors, from among themselves. In November 2024, Cr Stretch Kontelj was nominated by the outgoing Mayor, seconded by his brother Cr Eddy Kontelj, and installed without a vote because no other nominations were received. Cr Ron Nelson became Deputy Mayor.
I'm not making a criticism of that outcome. What I want to point at is the structural consequence, because it is a lot bigger than most people realise.
The mayoralty is not a ceremonial job. The Mayor chairs meetings and therefore shapes how debate runs. The Mayor is the council's public voice — the one quoted in the Addy, the one on ABC radio, the one at the table when a state minister visits. The Mayor leads delegations, sets the tone of the "100-day plan", and has a degree of agenda-setting influence no other councillor has.
Now the arithmetic. Under Victorian local government law, a mayoral term runs for either one or two years, decided by the council. Across a single four-year council term:
Figure 03 · The exposure problem
How many of 11 wards get a turn in the chair?
With two-year mayoral terms, just two of eleven wards see the chair in a four-year council term — roughly 18 per cent. Even with annual terms it's four of eleven. Giving every ward a single turn at one year each takes eleven years: nearly three full council terms. And that assumes the mayoralty is deliberately spread. If it isn't, some wards may wait decades.
A councillor from a low-profile ward can be diligent, well-briefed and completely right — and still never get the platform that turns being right into being funded. — David Greenwood OAM
04 / Why it matters more hereGreater Geelong's wards are genuinely unalike.
In a municipality where every ward looked roughly the same, this would be an academic point. Greater Geelong is nothing like that. Look back at the directory above and the differences are stark:
Figure 04 · Four very different problems
These wards do not want the same things.
| Ward type | What it needs from council |
|---|---|
| Central & established (Kardinia, Hamlyn Heights) | Renewal of ageing assets, CBD activation, amenity and safety in built-up areas. Infrastructure exists; it needs maintaining and repurposing. |
| Growth corridor (Charlemont, Leopold) | New infrastructure at pace — schools, roads, halls, playing fields — arriving alongside houses rather than a decade later. |
| Coastal & peninsula (Cheetham, Connewarre, Murradoc) | Foreshore and environmental management, seasonal tourism capacity, services for small and ageing populations far from the centre. |
| Northern & rural (Corio, You Yangs) | Reversing long-run under-investment, employment pathways, and basic connectivity across large or disadvantaged areas. |
A council that only ever hears its own priorities articulated through the lens of two or three wards will, in good faith, systematically under-serve the rest.
This is the heart of it. Nobody sits at a council table deciding to neglect Lara or Norlane. Under-investment isn't usually a decision — it's an accumulation. It happens when the ward with the loudest structural advantage gets its issues framed as "the city's priorities" year after year, while other wards' issues get framed as "local requests".
05 / The proposalRotate the chair — deliberately.
So here's what I'd argue for. Not a law change. Not a constitutional reform. A published convention, adopted by the councillor group itself, that the mayoralty deliberately moves around the municipality — and that no ward holds it twice before every ward has held it once.
Figure 05 · What a rotation convention could look like
Four practical components.
Annual mayoral terms
One-year terms double the number of wards that reach the chair in a council term, from two to four. It's the single highest-impact change available and requires only a council resolution.
A published order of rotation
Agreed at the start of each council term and published, so residents can see when their ward is due. Predictability is itself a form of accountability.
A ward equity report
Capital and operational spend reported per ward, published annually. Not to trigger a scramble for parity, but so that long-run under-investment becomes visible and arguable instead of invisible and permanent.
Real deputy-mayor development
Use the deputy mayoralty as genuine preparation — briefings, delegations, media training — so that "they're not ready" stops being a reason to keep the chair in the same few wards.
06 / The counter-argumentsGiven honestly.
I don't think this idea is beyond challenge, and I'd rather set out the objections properly than pretend they don't exist.
Objection: merit, not turns
The chair should go to whoever is best equipped to hold it — not to whoever's turn it is.
Response
Fair. But "best equipped" is partly built by opportunity — and eleven wards means eleven people who cleared the same democratic bar.
Objection: continuity
Relationships with state and federal government take years to build. Annual rotation resets them.
Response
Real cost — but it can be managed by strong deputy-mayor handover and by the CEO carrying institutional continuity, which is their job.
Objection: councillor independence
Councillors must be free to elect whoever they judge best. A convention constrains a lawful vote.
Response
Agreed — which is why this should be a convention the councillors adopt themselves, not a rule imposed on them. It binds only by consent.
There's also a version of this that is simply better than a rotation rule: a councillor group that actively goes looking for the wards it isn't hearing from. Rotation is a mechanism for producing that behaviour when it doesn't happen naturally. If it happens naturally, you don't need the mechanism.
07 / The bottom lineExposure is a resource.
Attention is not a soft commodity in local government. It determines which projects appear in a draft budget, which get advocacy time with a minister, which make it into a media cycle, and which quietly sit in the "future consideration" column for another four years.
Eleven single-councillor wards was a good reform — it made representation clearer and accountability sharper. But it also created eleven separate claims on one budget and one public voice. If that voice keeps coming from the same few postcodes, the reform delivers less than it promised.
Rotating the chair is not a solution to under-investment. It's a way of making sure every part of Greater Geelong gets, at least once, the chance to have its problems described as the city's problems.
Do you know who your ward councillor is? If you had to think about it, that's worth noticing. Find your ward on the council or VEC map, save your councillor's email, and use it. The single most under-used piece of democratic infrastructure in this municipality is a polite, specific, located email from a resident who has already logged the problem.
