Meet your new councillors

6/11/2024

New team outside the Bass Coast electoral office. Clockwise from back left, Crs Tim O'Brien (Island Ward), Jon Temby, Jan Thompson and Rochelle Halstead (Western Port), Brett Tessari and Mat Morgan (Bunurong).
Absent: Crs Ron Bauer, Tracey Bell and Meg Edwards.

By Catherine Watson

After a week of counting, preferences were distributed this afternoon and Bass Coast has a new team of councillors to manage our affairs over the next four years, including six new councillors.

Former councillors Brett Tessari, Ron Bauer and Rochelle Halstead were all re-elected with a strong primary vote.

The new councillors are Mat Morgan and Meg Edwards (Bunurong Ward), Tim O’Brien and Tracey Bell (Island Ward) and Jon Temby and Jan Thompson (Western Port Ward).

Former councillors Leticia Laing, David Rooks and Les Larke were unsuccessful. Crs Clare Le Serve, Michael Whelan and Geoff Ellis did not seek re-election.

The generally progressive outlook of the past three councils has shifted slightly to the right, with four progressive councillors and four who pursued a "back to basics" agenda during the election campaign.

Three-time Bass Coast Mayor Brett Tessari sits somewhere in the middle and the new council may need to call on him to take up mayoral duties once more. He will need all his famous diplomacy skills to keep the peace between councillors with very different ideas.

Cr Halstead and Cr Edwards have both stood as Liberal candidates in state elections, Cr Thompson is a current member of the Liberal Party, and Cr Tessari was a National Party candidate at the 2022 state election.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mat Morgan brings considerable political experience as a Greens candidate at the past federal and state elections. He also injects a touch of youth as the youngest councillor in Bass Coast Shire Council’s history.

The election is provisional at this stage. If there is no challenge or protest, the result will be declared in the council chambers at 3pm tomorrow. The event is open to the public.

Bass Coast Shire Council 2024-28
Get to know your new councillors

BUNURONG WARD

Brett Tessari

Meg Edwards

Mat Morgan

ISLAND WARD

Ron Bauer

Tracey Bell

Tim O'Brien

WESTERN PORT WARD

Rochelle Halstead

Jon Temby

Jan Thompson

11 Comments

Felicia Di Stefano

7/11/2024 08:19:32 pm

Thank you very much Catherine. First with the news once more. A somewhat better result than the USA elections.

Ed Thexton

7/11/2024 09:18:24 pm

Catherine
Thanks. What a team! Thankfully the rancor of an election elsewhere came nowhere Bass Coast. Our local government is where decency and respectful communication resides. A role model for young and not so young to follow. Congratulations all.

Christine Grayden

8/11/2024 07:26:49 am

Thank you Catherine. I've shared this on PICS FB page. As you say, an interesting mix of political beliefs and connections, life views and experience, and age. I'm sure Brett will be up to the mayoral challenge if that's what happens. It will be most interesting to see how this diverse group manages to quickly find a basis on which they can all work together. I hope they all have or soon acquire whatever training is available through the MAV.

Tim Herring

8/11/2024 08:55:30 am

Scoop again Catherine!
Pretty good team of nine; although I would like to pay my respects to David and Letitia who have given great service and wish them well. I agree with Ed's comments as I believe Bass Coast is a good example to other local government authorities. Continue to make us proud!

Ann Grose

9/11/2024 11:27:38 am

What a puff piece of supposed journalism if ever there was.
Heavily weighted towards Brett Tessari and your suggestion he needs to play umpire is ludicrous - he CERTAINLY does not.

We have a new posse of councilors which is so long overdue. And with that we need sound mentorship and not the same old that Brett will offer. We don't want these new councilors to tow the line. We want to see tussles, argy bargy, fevour, solid discussions and substance. Not what we have been seeing over the past decade or so.

The voting numbers showed we want passion, new ideas and DEFINITELY a new direction. We don't want to see someone keeping the "peace".

And your comment that the council is made up of 4 "progressives" and 4 "back to basics" is extremely flawed. Your statement that there was a "generally progressive outlook of the past three councils" is incorrect. The "progressives" of past councils were dinosaurs in their thinking, stuck in a time warp thinking that BC was still in the 70's and were unrealistic in their thinking and personal policies - making all their decisions on their own personal agendas - rarely representing the voting public - it was all about them and their egos.

Our new councilors have the opportunity to steer the council in a MUCH-needed new direction. Leave the old guard behind. We all voted for much needed reform - not more of the same.

Noel Maud

12/11/2024 06:19:41 pm

Blimey. Unsure which planet Ann thinks she’s residing on. Pretty clear this election has brought in a mix of steady heads from the previous council plus a mix of conservative and progressive new faces. Surely indications most ratepayers were pretty happy with the course the previous council was charting as three of the old guard were re elected with big majorities.

Meryl Tobin link

12/11/2024 11:29:50 pm

Thank you to retiring councillors, some of whom have devoted years of their lives to serving their communities. Special thankyous to Clare Le Serve and Geoff Ellis, whom I know personally and respect for their efforts on behalf of Bass Coast Shire. Thank you too to Michael Whelan.
Thank you to Brett Tessari, Rochelle Halstead and Ron Bauer whose continuing presence in Council will add stability.
Congratulations to new councillors, Jon Temby, Jan Thompson, Tim O’Brien, Mat Morgan, Tracey Bell and Meg Edwards.
Thank you and commiserations to councillors who were not re-elected, Leticia Laing, David Rooks and Les Larke for your mixed accomplishments in your roles.
Thank you too to all other candidates who stood: Caitlyn Robertson, Prudence Scholtes, Brian Robinson, Eddie Halaijian, Darrell Silva, Marnie Chadwick, John Trigt, Glenda Minty, Brian O’Farrell and Nikole Schellekens.
You are essential to our democracy. You help give the electorate a choice and give minorities a voice. Even if you didn’t win, you show those who did that there are others out there who might not agree with their stance, values or whatever, and that they must consider all in their electorate.
As we live in a democracy, it is essential we have good people in all parties, people who uphold democratic values, or else we could end up with a situation where a defeated candidate refuses to step down. Should there be a rogue leader of a party, then we need good people in that party to stand against them. Should a party or leader follow a dangerous and risky path, we also need good people in that party to hold them to account.
Thanks to all for helping our democracy work.

Frank W Schooneveldt

13/11/2024 06:36:44 am

Congratulations to re elected and new councillors.
It’s time to fix the open gutters, pave the roads and make footpaths.
What about swimming pools?
Conservative budgets are no longer appropriate. It’s time to gear the balance sheet to address the $600 million infrastructure issues in the Bass Coast.
How do you eat a bear? One bite at a time. It’s time to take action.
The council has a plan so let’s implement it rather than letting it gather dust.
Cheers

Bianchina Maria Sampey

19/11/2024 05:09:58 pm

Can all residents at Phillip Island have a hard waste pickup like every other council in Victoria. Boroondara Council has 2 hardwastes per year. The rates are already high at Phillip Island so please consider a hard waste and maybe save the money from the unnecessary spending that some departments on council overspend without a second thought.

Amy Lowell

19/11/2024 10:22:13 pm

So just for Phillip Island residents, Bianchina? You don't think other residents pay rates?
Though you do have a a point. Rather than individual hard rubbish collections, let's go back to the days when we had a hard rubbish week. It was a massive recycling effort. One person's rubbish was another person's treasure. By the end of a week there was very little going to landfill.

Bianchina Maria Sampey

21/11/2024 10:25:04 am

Hi Amy, I mean the whole Bass Coast Shire. Why should residents have to pay to have their hard waste and also have to take it to the tip. Not everyone has a trailer to do so. I have brought it up with Michael Whelan and Ron Bauer and other councillors in the past and have been told that the hard waste waiting to be picked up looks unsightly in the streets and yet I see dumped rubbish here and there most times where residents just put it on someone else's naturestrip. Please please every other council has a hard rubbish collection Basscoast needs one as well for the residents.

Meet your new councillors

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