Three new councillors make up the new Baw Baw Shire Council sworn in yesterday.
Final results announced on Thursday showed Jazmin Tauru elected to Central Ward while Ben Lucas and Annemarie McCabe have been elected to the West Ward.
At 21-years-old, Cr Tauru is the youngest person ever to be elected to Baw Baw Shire and is looking forward to being a voice for youth at the council table.
Only one of the seven sitting councillors was not re-elected, with Keith Cook defeated in the West Ward.
The closest battle played out in the Central Ward where only 58 primary votes separated sitting councillor Joe Gauci and Wayne Farnham. Following the allocation of votes and preferences under the proportional system Cr Gauci was elected by 104 votes.
In each of the three wards, there was a stand-out vote for one candidate with Ben Lucas (west) and incumbents Danny Goss (central) and Michael Leaney (east) all dominating the primary vote and achieving the vote quota.
At the conclusion of primary vote counting the tally in each ward was:
Central – Jazmin Tauru 2458, Danny Goss 3432, Joe Gauci 2082, Wayne Farnham 2024 and Farhat Firdous 1587.
East – Peter Kostos 2400, Michael Leaney 3872, Teresa Mitchell 674, Graeme Hart 740, Inge Mitchell 786, Arfa Khan 970 and Darren Wallace 1715.
West – Ben Lucas 5439, Tricia Jones 2367, Annemarie McCabe 1937, Keith Cook 2192.
The largest turnout of votes was in the Central Ward where 82.5 per cent of the 14,031 enrolled voters cast their vote. In East Ward 82.1 per cent of the 13,580 people enrolled cast their vote; and in West Ward the voter turnout was 79.6 per cent of the 14,983 people enrolled.
Central Ward
Cr Goss was the first elected and after the allocation of preferences Cr Tauru was second elected with 3588 votes and Cr Gauci third elected on 2942.
Cr Goss said it was a vote of confidence from the community o be re-elected.
He said the new council represented a diversity in age groups and gender.
“Every councillor represents a group in the community which is good,” he said.
Cr Tauru said she hoped her election would create more interest in young people to learn about local government and become involved.
“It’s good to get a new generation and make people more aware of local government. I hope me being a councillor will inspire others,” she said.
Cr Tauru said she hoped she could educate other councillors about the issues affecting young people, with a focus on keeping young people living and working in the shire.
Cr Gauci said he always knew it would come down to preferences and be a close battle.
Cr Gauci received 48 per cent of Cr Goss’ preference votes which helped he cross the line just in front of Mr Farnham.
“I am rapt to be back in for a third term with a good mix of new councillors to bring in fresh ideas.
“There was a negative campaign out there from a few individuals that backfired and I’m proud of the people who chose not to listen to it and voted for me.
“You have to cop that, I take no offence to it and I’ll continue on doing what I do,” he said.
East Ward
East Ward councillors remain unchanged with all three sitting councillors re-elected with Cr Leaney first over the line and after preferences Peter Kostos on 2961 and Darren Wallace on 2914 votes.
Cr Leaney was overwhelmed by the strong primary vote and vowed to continue to work hard for small towns and rural communities.
He said the strong vote gave him a very strong mandate that all corners of the shire were important.
Cr Kostos said he was reasonably confident after the primary votes were counted.
He said there was a strong field of seven candidates in the ward so it was gratifying to be re-elected.
Cr Kostos said he received a lot of positive feedback during the campaign, particularly from the farming community, but he wasn’t confident until the votes rolled in.
Cr Wallace said he always knew it would be a tough battle when there were essentially five candidates vying for the Trafalgar and Yarragon vote. He said he was grateful for the support of a core group of people.
Cr Wallace said he learned a lot in his first term on council and looked forward to building on that work and representing the ward.
West Ward
Cr Lucas achieved 45 per cent of the primary vote in West Ward to be first elected. After the allocation of preferences sitting councillor Tricia Jones was re-elected on 3238 votes and Annemarie McCabe elected with 3065 votes.
Cr Lucas confidently claimed victory early last week after the primary vote significantly favoured him.
He said he was looking forward to working in a good team environment with good people on council.
Crs Jones and McCabe were not present at the poll declaration.