Three new faces on Moyne Shire Council at 2020 elections

Joining the council will be Port Fairy residents, Karen Foster, Damian Gleeson and James Purcell.

The election has also returned Garvoc's Daniel Meade, Mailors Flat's Jim Doukas, Port Fairy's Jordan Lockett and Pura Pura's Ian Smith.

The results mean there will be four councillors from Port Fairy and three from the wider farming areas of the shire.

There were 16 candidates who contested the election.

Daniel Meade secured the highest number of primary votes, with 18.76 per cent, followed by Jim Doukas with 15.89 per cent.

Damian Gleeson received 9.17 per cent of primary votes, Jordan Lockett received 8.69 per cent, James Purcell received 7.25 per cent, Karen Foster received 6.88 per cent and Ian Smith received 5.23 per cent.

Just behind them and unsuccessful in securing a place was Rosebrook's Genevieve Grant with 5.17 per cent.

Woolsthorpe's Colin Ryan received 4.53 per cent of the primary vote and will be departing the council after three terms.

Mortlake's Kelvin Goodall received 4.46 per cent of the vote and will also not join the council after an earlier two-year stint in 2015.

Ms Foster, a communication professional and chair of Moyne Health and Leadership Great South West Coast, said she was "delighted" to be elected after first wanting to join the council a decade ago.

"I've been working on the periphery of local government for years," she said.

Ms Foster was also part of the Women for Moyne group aiming to elect three women to council and said she was disappointed to be the sole female councillor-elect.

"As the only woman on the council team I definitely feel a weight of responsibility. It is disappointing that I am the only woman on the team. But it's democracy, this is the team Moyne Shire and ratepayers wanted," she said.

"We have four years to nurture and mentor a new generation of women to step forward next time."

Mr Gleeson, a former Port Fairy publican, said he was "pleasantly surprised" to be elected.

"I didn't have an agenda, I put my hand up and said 'this is who I am and this is what I want to do'," he said.

He said despite there being a majority of successful candidates from Port Fairy he would work to represent the whole shire and didn't believe a lack of diversity would be an issue "at all".

"Twelve thousand people had the opportunity to elect the people who best represent them," Mr Gleeson said.

Mr Purcell, a former Moyne councillor from 2008 to 2014 and Victorian upper house independent from 2014 to 2018, said he was now focused on the region recovering from the pandemic.

"The main thing I want to do is make the region and particularly Moyne get through the COVID recovery well and we get well represented in Spring Street and don't miss out on the money that will make regional Victoria stronger," he said.

Mr Purcell, a self-storage business owner and contract accountant, said he thought more women should have been elected to the council.

"I think its always good to have a good diversity. I would have liked to see more women elected and I think there needs to be more work done on that before the next election," he said.

Mr Meade thanked voters for supporting him and said he was hopeful that the whole shire would receive equal representation.

"The strategy should be; it's important that councillors take all areas into account when making decisions," he said.

Mr Meade, previously Mayor, said he would be having discussions with other successful candidates in coming weeks to decide if he would put his hand up again.

"We will see what that brings," he said.

Mr Lockett, who visited more 60 localities in Moyne as part of a social media campaign ahead of the election to make 50 music videos, said the videos helped but were unlikely to be why he was elected.

"I have probably lost and gained some people in the past four years with my stance on environmental issues. Obviously the vote was quite spread across the shire, with some excellent candidates," he said.

Mr Lockett promised to push for an officers' report to council to investigate whether funding was distributed equally across the shire relative to ratepayments.

"It would be before the next budget," he said.

Mr Doukas will serve his sixth term on the council, the longest of four re-elected.

"I have always enjoyed it and it's good to know people support you, which means you are doing the right thing. If you're open and honest you get a lot of satisfaction out of it," he said.

"I can work with anybody. Having four from Port Fairy is not going to concern me at all."

Mr Smith couldn't be reached for comment before deadline.