Secret mayoral vote proposal slammed by Council Watch

THE South Gippsland Shire Council has been roundly criticised by the state’s local government watchdog organisation, Council Watch, for calling on its peak body, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), to support holding mayoral elections behind closed doors.

Dubbing the initiative as some sort of joke, Council Watch said local government had “officially entered parody territory” with the initiative.

“You cannot make this up! A motion headed to the MAV State Council (supported by South Gippsland Shire) is proposing that mayoral elections could be moved behind closed doors or conducted by secret electronic ballot because open voting allegedly creates “psychological safety risks” for councillors,” said Council Watch on its social media page at the weekend.

The critique is accompanied by one of its famous AI-generated cartoons, depicting six of South Gippsland’s nine councillors; including the impressive likenesses of Cr Scott Rae and Cr Sarah Gilligan, together with the shire’s mayor Cr Nathan Hersey, sporting a fetching pair of Raybans, all of them candidates in what was allegedly a bruising November mayoral poll.

But, it seems, the motion, passed “unanimously” at the council’s March 18, 2026 meeting, may not have the level of support reflected on the books.

Cr Rae, for one, doesn’t support holding mayoral elections behind closed doors.

Nor does the mayor himself, Cr Hersey.

“I haven’t got a problem taking it forward to the MAV, even though I don’t support it myself personally,” said Cr Hersey.

“But we provide the opportunity for each councillor to bring forward a motion they’d like see debated at State Council and that’s what this is about.

“The election of mayor isn’t like the vote you have for competing projects or programs, which can be debated fully, where the focus is on the individual.

“Coming out of that, it can have the appearance of a council not being united, when the reality is we’re working strongly together right through the year.

“I can understand the reasons for wanting to conduct that process in camera and coming out with a united front but, at the end of the day, it’s in the Local Government Act that mayoral elections be conducted in open council.

“It would have to be changed by the State Government and I don’t see a willingness to do that.”

Cr Hersey said that at the time council passed a motion to take a motion on mayoral elections to the MAV’s state conference, the focus had been on the second of two motions - That the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) write to the Minister for Energy and Resources to request support for the establishment of a Payment in Lieu of Rates (PiLoR) Framework for offshore electricity generators to contribute to payments in lieu of Local Government rates in Victoria.

Several councillors, including the new deputy mayor Cr Brad Snell, spoke passionately at the March meeting in support of what is a Wellington Shire (Sale) initiative to require offshore energy generators to make annual payments in lieu of rates, for the infrastructure and service costs incurred by neighbouring councils.

 Cr Hersey said it may have been that the unanimous support from council was more directed at that worthy aim.

But it hasn’t stopped Council Watch holding South Gippsland up to public ridicule and calling on local residents to make their views known to their council representatives.

“These are publicly elected officials seeking public power, public money and public authority - yet now some apparently don’t want the public knowing who voted for who when selecting a mayor. The proposal would see the election conducted in confidential business and then the winners publicly announced. For real!” said Council Watch.

“Democracy does not work in secret.

“If councillors are too uncomfortable to publicly cast a vote for mayor in an open chamber, they should seriously reconsider whether public office is for them,” they said, going on to call the proposal “absurd”.

Asked if council would consider reprising the vote on secret mayoral elections, Cr Hersey said it was too late to change the motions going forward to the MAV State Conference.

He also said he wasn’t concerned about Council Watch criticism.

“That’s the view of one publication so, no, not worried but I didn’t mind the picture they put up of me. I don’t reckon I look that good in real life,” he said.

Council Watch isn’t letting it go.

“Once politicians start demanding secret ballots for leadership votes, local government stops looking accountable and starts looking like a private club, terrified of scrutiny,” they said.

“If this is what the councillors at South Gippsland really think should be the standard and want the whole state to consider it - the councillors might need a reality check of what the public think,” said Council Watch urging constituents to let them know.

The social media post as drawn some response, a number questioning whether there’s illegal practices going on at some councils where the lobbying, deals (“I’ll vote for you now, if you vote for me later”) and decisions are being made before the public vote is held.

• It’s been happening for years in some councils. How often do you see a 9-0 vote for a mayor? Decision has already been made in councillor-only time.
• Really does not matter as most times already done in unofficial council meetings before the official meeting.