After a series of countbacks and close calls, the results are in for the Geelong council election 2024.
The Victorian Electoral Commission officially declared the 11 councillors-elect who will represent the City of Greater Geelong for the next four years yesterday at City Hall.
Councillors Anthony Aitken (Corio Ward), Melissa Cadwell (Cheetham), Eddy Kontelj (Hamlyn Heights), Ron Nelson (Barrabool Hills), Trent Sullivan (Leopold) and Elise Wilkinson (Connewarre) will return for another term.
Ms Wilkinson, who was reportedly trailing her only Connewarre Ward opponent Angela Shearman by a significant margin earlier in the original vote count, effected a dramatic comeback to win the council seat by 7477 votes to 7472.
However, due to the tightness of the race Connewarre underwent a recount, which shaved Ms Wilkinson’s margin of victory from five votes to three.
Votes in Charlemont and Deakin wards were also recounted, confirming the results in both cases.
Emma Sinclair, one of the five new faces on the council, was victorious in Charlemont on the strength of preference distribution, having polled the third in primary votes behind Blake Hadlow and Teagan Mitchell.
With her partner and parents in attendance, Ms Sinclair said she was “very proud” to be declared councillor for Charlemont Ward and was “looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and getting out there for the people of Geelong”.
Ms Sinclair said while she might occupy “a different part of the political spectrum” to some of her fellow councillors, she was committed to “get to work for my community and get stuff done”.
“I think it’s very easy to say no and not explore something any further,” she said.
“Finding a pathway to yes can be a little bit more difficult, but I’m really willing to make that work. And I hope that if I take those steps to work through different political views, that that will be returned to me and we can find common pathways to achieve better outcomes for the whole community.”
Chris Burson (You Yangs Ward) and Rowan Story (Murradoc) will join the council for the first time, while former state parliamentarian Andrew Katos (Deakin) and former Geelong mayor Stretch Kontelj (Kardinia Ward) both return to the council after lengthy breaks.
Trent Sullivan, who has served as Geelong mayor for the past two years, said it was “great to be back”.
“I’d like to acknowledge the outgoing councillors, both those who did not recontest and those who did but were unsuccessful,” he said.
“With my fellow councillors-elect going forward, we certainly have a job ahead of us in the next four years.
“I thoroughly believe that whilst we were elected by different parts of our community, we were elected to represent the whole community as decision makers. Once we are here, we must never forget that.”
