by Cam Lucadou-Wells
Greater Dandenong’s Green Wedge will be united in a single council ward after an electoral boundary review.
Local Government Minister Melissa Horne announced that she accepted the outcomes of the review for City of Greater Dandenong and nine other councils.
The ward boundary changes apply for the upcoming October elections.
The redistribution was prompted by the growing number of voters in the new estates in Keysborough.
In its review, the VEC rejected a controversial alternative model that would move Greater Dandenong’s entire green wedge and Dandenong South industrial area into Dandenong Ward.
This model also attracted strong criticism from an overwhelming majority of submitters, including Willow Lodge Village Residents Association, the Defenders of the South East Green Wedge, Keysborough South Ward Greens councillor Rhonda Garad and former Greens councillor Matthew Kirwan.
The submitters argued it would set up a conflict for the ward’s councillor representing the industrial and green wedge communities.
The VEC instead opted for minor changes to Greater Dandenong’s ward boundaries. The new layout includes adding the Lyndhurst green wedge area to the Keysborough and Bangholme green wedge areas in the Keysborough South Ward.
Meanwhile, the Keysborough Ward will extend into a section of the newer residential estates south of Dandenong Bypass (which were formerly in Keysborough South Ward).
This was a “potential drawback” given the bypass was a “large physical boundary” and the different housing stock on either side of the bypass.
Four of the 11 wards will retain the same boundaries. The three western wards Springvale North, Springvale Central and Springvale South will move slightly south.
