Whittlesea council election, 2024

The City of Whittlesea covers parts of the outer north of Melbourne.

The council covers the suburbs of Bundoora, Epping, Merrnda, Mill Park, Lalor, South Morang and Thomastown. The council had a population of 229,396 as of the 2021 census.

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

Wards
The City of Whittlesea will be divided into eleven single-member wards as of 2024:

• Bundoora – in the south-east, covering those parts of Bundoora contained within the City of Whittlesea.
• Epping – in the centre, covering parts of Epping.
• Ganbu Gulinj – in the west, covering parts of Epping and Wollert.
• Kirrip – in the centre, covering parts of Epping and Wollert.
• Lalor – in the south-west, covering the suburb of Lalor.
• Mernda – in the north-east, covering parts of Mernda and South Morang.
• Mill Park – in the south-east, covering Mill Park.
• North – this ward covers the entirety northern half of the council, including Whittlesea, Yan Yean, Eden Park and Humevale.
• Painted Hills – in the north-east, covering parts of Doreen.
• South Morang – in the east, covering parts of South Morang.
• Thomastown – in the south-west, covering Thomastown.

Redistribution
The council previously consisted of three wards, electing eleven councillors. The North Ward elected three members, while the South East and South West wards each elected four.

The North Ward covered the entirety of the new Mernda, North and Painted Hills wards, along with parts of the new Ganba Gulinj, Kirrip and South Morang wards.

The South East Ward covered the entirety of the new Bundoora and Mill Park wards, and parts of the new Epping, Kirrip, Lalor, South Morang and Thomastown wards.

The South West Ward covered parts of the new Epping, Ganbu Gulinj, Kirrip, Lalor and Thomastown wards.

Incumbent councillors
The City of Whittlesea’s councillors were all dismissed in March 2020 and replaced with a panel of administrators, and no election was held in October 2020.

History
The Shire of Whittlesea was created in 1875. The council expanded and contracted over the next century, and became a city in 1988. The council survived mostly intact in the 1994 council reorganisation.

The council was elected through nine single-member wards until 2005, when they switched to three wards of three councillors each. In 2020, the council increased from nine to eleven members, with two of the wards electing a fourth councillor each.

Candidate summary
No information.

Assessment
Whittlesea has not elected a council since 2016 so this will probably create the space for a new generation of councillors. There aren’t clear partisan divisions in this council’s elections, and this might persist in 2024.

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, Labor won every ward. The Labor vote is strong in the urbanised south, while they barely won the North and Painted Hills wards.