Cardinia council election, 2024

The Shire of Cardinia covers Pakenham and surrounding areas one the south-eastern fringe of Melbourne.

The council covers Pakenham (which makes up close to half of the Shire’s population) along with Officer, Cockatoo, Koo Wee Rup, Bunyip and Beaconsfield Upper, along with parts of Beaconsfield and Emerald. The council had a population of 118,194 as of the 2021 census.

• Wards
• Redistribution
• Incumbent councillors
• History
• Council control
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• Voting trends by ward

Wards
The Shire of Cardinia will be divided into nine single-member wards as of 2024:

• Beacon Hills – semi-rural areas at the northern end of Pakenham, including Beaconsfield Upper, Guys Hill, Dewhurst and Mount Burnett.
• Bunyip – rural areas in the east of the Shire, covering Maryknoll, Nar Nar Goon, Garfield and Bunyip.
• Central – southern Pakenham.
• Henty – eastern Pakenham.
• Officer – western Pakenham, covering the suburb of Officer.
• Pakenham Hills – north-eastern Pakenham.
• Ranges – the rural northern end of the Shire, including Avonsleigh, Cockatoo, Emerald and Gembrook.
• Toomuc – northern Pakenham.
• Westernport – rural areas in the south of the Shire, covering Lang Lang, Koo Wee Rup and Officer South.

Redistribution
Cardinia Shire has been elected from nine single-member wards since 2020, so the changes in 2024 are relatively small.

No changes were made to the Ranges and Toomuc wards.

The Bunyip ward expanded very slightly into the Westernport ward on the edge of Pakenham.

The Pakenham Hills ward expanded slightly to the south-west, which then pushed Henty ward into Central ward, and the Central ward into the Officer ward. The Officer ward also contracted on its eastern edge, losing a small area to the Beacon Hills ward.

Incumbent councillors

¹Kaye Cameron replaced Ray Brown following a by-election in 2021.

History
The Shire of Cardinia was created in 1994, by a merger of the Shire of Pakenham with parts of the Cranbourne and Sherbrooke councils.

The Shire’s council was elected from seven single-member wards until 2005, when the council was restructured into a single three-member ward, a two-member ward, and two single-member wards. In 2012, the council was expanded to nine seats, elected from a four-member ward, a three-member ward and a two-member ward.

Council control
A different councillor has been elected mayor every year of the current term:

• Brett Owen (2020-21)
• Jeff Springfield (21-22)
• Tammy Redford (22-23)
• Jack Kowarzik (23-24)

Each deputy mayor then went on to become mayor in the following year, with Graeme Moore as the 2023-24 deputy mayor.

Candidate summary
Sitting councillors Graeme Moore and Tammy Radford are not running for re-election.

All 23 candidates are running without party endorsement. This council has smaller ballot papers than many other Melbourne-area councils, with one uncontested ward and five others with just two candidates.

Assessment
Cardinia’s council doesn’t have strong factional or partisan divides.

Voting trends by ward
In order to understand the relative political position of each ward, I have estimated the results of the 2022 federal election in each ward.

On a two-party-preferred basis, the Liberal Party won every ward. The Liberal Party has generally done better in the large rural wards than the small urban wards in the Pakenham area.

Candidates – Beacon Hills Ward

• Kylie Wagstaff
• Cr Brett Owen

Candidates – Bunyip Ward

• Alanna Pomeroy
• Travis Parker

Candidates – Central Ward

• Cr Collin Ross
• Rekha Devdas Naidu

Candidates – Henty Ward

• Shoheli Sunjida
• Liz Roberts
• Cecilia Rabecca Mphande
• Cr Carol Ryan
• Stephanie Grigg

Candidates – Officer Ward

• Samantha-Jane Potter
• Ron Malhotra

Candidates – Pakenham Hills Ward

• Cr Jack Kowarzik

Candidates – Ranges Ward

• Catherine Oldenburger
• David Nickell
• Cr Jeff Springfield

Candidates – Toomuc Ward

• Cr Stephanie Marie Davies
• Casey Thomsen
• Rodrigo Alonso Bardales Salguero
• Amirthalingam Dhileepan

Candidates – Westernport Ward

• Cr Kaye Cameron
• Trudi Paton

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