Residents in Creswick ward won’t be required to vote come October 22.
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Incumbent councillors Don Henderson and Greg May will be reinstated to their posts uncontested.
Mr Henderson said he had been hoping for some competition, especially from female candidates. The outgoing council had one of the lowest representations of women in the state, with only one female councillor.
Mr Henderson, who has been a Creswick ward councillor since 2008, said he would have considered retiring had any good candidates stood.
“I’m very surprised and I’d hope for different. I’d actually tried to get a number of people to nominate, especially women, but I wasn’t able to,” he said.
“It’s not good that some people feel they didn’t have a choice (in who would represent them). No-one likes to get elected unopposed. It’s a better feeling if people have the right to have a choice.”
Mr Henderson said he wasn’t sure if the situation was an endorsement of himself and Mr May or a sign the job was considered “too big”.
“Some people say to me, how do you put up with it, it’s such a big job,” he said.
“I hope that it wasn’t that people didn’t run because they thought they couldn’t win. That’s an awful thing to think, because you can never take the vote for granted.”
Mr May said he was surprised no-one else nominated, but admitted he hadn’t heard any interest from other residents.
“I look forward to another four years of representing the Creswick ward. I think the shire’s making some pretty good inroads in all sorts of areas and I hope that continues.”