Surf Coast Shire
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Surf Coast Shire is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the southern part of the state, near Geelong. It includes the towns of Anglesea, Lorne, Torquay and Winchelsea. It has an area of 1,553 square kilometres. It had a population of 19,700 in 2001. The mayor is Keith Grossman. The deputy mayor, filling a new position created in 2004, is Ron Humphrey.
The shire was formed in 1994, as part of the local government amalgamations that occurred under then-Premier Jeff Kennett. Most of the former Winchelsea Shire, the Barrabool Shire, and the Torquay section of the former South Barwon Council, which was, at that point, part of the City of Greater Geelong, was merged into the new shire. Its first elections were held in 1995.
It is currently one of only a handful of municipalities in Victoria to be unsubdivided. As a result, the entire municipality votes to elect the nine councillors. This was preceded by a ward system where three councillors were elected from Torquay, three from Anglesea and one from Lorne, Winchelsea, Moriac and Aireys Inlet respectively, which was abolished before the 2004 council elections.
The operation of the shire has been controversial in recent years. In the late 1990s, it set up a business arm, SurfLink, in an attempt to supplement its funding. The effort failed, and the business closed some years afterwards. There were inconsistencies in the accounting, and a large sum of money was missing. However, two state government inquiries failed to come to any conclusions. In addition to the SurfLink saga, the shire is also deeply in debt, which they have only recently begun to address.
It has been speculated that parts of the shire may fragment. There has been a movement in the town of Winchelsea to secede from the shire and join the neighbouring Colac-Otway Shire. It had also been suggested for some years that Torquay, the largest town, may also secede. However, this now seems unlikely, due to the creation of the unsubdivided municipality, which allowed a ticket of Torquay councillors to seize majority control of the council in 2004.
Mayors
- Noel Bates (1995-1997)
- Henry Love (1997-1998)
- Julie Hansen (1998-2000)
- Mike Barrow (2000-2001)
- Beth Davidson (2001-2004)
- Keith Grossman (2004-present)
External links
- Official website (http://www.surfcoast.vic.gov.au/)
- The Anglesea & District Historical Society Inc. (http://home.vicnet.net.au/~angen/)