The 2011 Shellharbour and Wollongong local elections were held on 3 September 2011 to elect the councils of the City of Shellharbour and the City of Wollongong in New South Wales.

Wollongong City Council was sacked in March 2008 amid a corruption inquiry, and the same happened to Shellharbour City Council in July 2008 because of continual failures with the council's code of conduct committee.[1][2] This meant electors in both councils did not vote at the 2008 local elections.

Both councils also faced a proposed merger, which was later abandoned.

Shellharbour has single ward with seven councillors, while Wollongong has a popularly-elected mayor, along with three wards that have four councillors each.

Results

Wollongong

Council party totals
Party Votes  % Seats Change
  Liberal 4
  Labor 4
  Independent 2
  Greens 2

Aftermath

Under the Local Government (Shellharbour and Wollongong Elections) Bill 2011, which passed the New South Wales Parliament on 9 May 2011, councillors were elected to hold office until the 2016 local elections, meaning they skipped the 2012 local elections.[3][4] However, as a result of delays caused by amalgamation proposals, both councils went to the polls in 2017 instead.

In 2014, Shellharbour councillors began to investigate the costs of a referendum that would allow voters to directly elect their mayor (as was the case before 2008) and increase the number of councillors from seven to nine.[5] Both proposals later passed at a 2017 referendum, with four wards created with two councillors each, plus the mayor.

References

  1. ↑ "Shellharbour is latest to join the ranks of sacked councils". Sydney Morning Herald.
  2. ↑ "Enough evidence to sack Shellharbour Council: inquiry". ABC News.
  3. ↑ "Local Government (Shellharbour and Wollongong Elections) Bill 2011". Parliament of New South Wales.
  4. ↑ "Wollongong City Council". New South Wales Electoral Commission.
  5. ↑ "Shellharbour council takes first steps towards resurrecting pre-2008 representation". ABC News.
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