City of Brimbank

The City of Brimbank is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the western suburbs between 10 and 20 km west and northwest from the Melbourne city centre.

City of Brimbank Victoria
Map of Melbourne showing City of Brimbank
Population	208,714 (2018)[1] (25th)
• Density	1,697/km^2 (4,395/sq mi)
Established	1994
Area	123 km^2 (47.5 sq mi)[1]
Mayor	Georgina Papafotiou
Council seat	Sunshine
Region	West Metropolitan Melbourne
State electorate(s)	Footscray Kororoit Niddrie St Albans Sunbury Sydenham
Federal Division(s)	Fraser Calwell Gorton Maribyrnong
Website	City of Brimbank
LGAs around City of Brimbank: Hume Hume Moreland Melton City of Brimbank Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong Wyndham Wyndham Hobsons Bay

The City has an area of 123 km² and in June 2018, Brimbank had a population of 208,714.[1]

History

The Wurundjeri people have been the custodians of the land in the Port Phillip Bay region, including the current City of Brimbank, for over 40,000 years before European settlement. Brimbank lies within the area occupied by the Kurung-Jang-Balluk and Marin-Balluk clans of the Wurundjeri people (also known as the Woiwurung language group) who form part of the larger Kulin Nation. Other groups who occupied land in the area include the Yalukit-Willam and Marpeang-Bulluk clans.

Brimbank was founded on 15 December 1994 during the amalgamations of local councils by the state government. It was formed after the merger of the former Cities of Keilor and Sunshine. It was named after Brimbank Park in Keilor, which itself was named for the practice of local farmers driving livestock "around the brim of the bank" of the Maribyrnong River.[2]

The municipality has thirteen places listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.[3]

Misconduct investigations and dismissal

In 2008 and 2009, the Brimbank City Council was the subject of several investigations into alleged misconduct by councillors.

On 30 July 2008, the state MP for Keilor, George Seitz, invoked parliamentary privilege in the Legislative Assembly to accuse former Brimbank mayor Cr Natalie Suleyman of branch stacking, describing her as the "Robert Mugabe of Brimbank". Seitz alleged that Suleyman had 'retaliated' by directing Council to block funding for capital works projects after she was defeated in Labor Party preselection for the 2008 Kororoit state by-election.[4][5] Following disclosures made under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001, the Victorian Ombudsman, George Brouwer, commenced an investigation into the Council in September.[6]

Brouwer's report was presented to Parliament on 7 May 2009, and found councillors were "generally dysfunctional",[7] "lacked awareness of their role",[8] and were "influenced" by unelected third parties.[9] The report asserted that between 2005 and 2008, decisions were reached by a majority (or 'ruling') faction of councillors who would vote on decisions as a bloc.[7] Of the 6 members of the 'ruling faction', only two were re-elected to council in 2008.

The report concluded that:

• External parties, including state MPs George Seitz and Theo Theophanous, and former federal MP Andrew Theophanous, had unduly influenced council business,[10]
• The 'ruling faction' "did not exercise reasonable care" in directing Brimbank CEO Marilyn Duncan to remove funding for the Keilor Lodge Reserve project,[11]
• The 'ruling faction' intended to "worry" Seitz by calling for expressions of interest on the Keilor Lodge Reserve site,[12]
• Cr Suleyman acted "with inappropriate partiality" in prioritising works at Cairnlea Park in the Council's 2008–09 budget,[13]
• Cr Eriksson contravened the Council's Code of Governance by releasing confidential information to the Sunshine Advocate, Brimbank Leader and Brimbank Star newspapers,[14]
• The Labor Party had appeared to breach the Electoral Act by distributing prohibited material to Cr Capar,[15]
• Councillors had misused council-owned laptops and BlackBerry devices,[16][17]
• Council had failed to handle the severance package of outgoing CEO Marilyn Duncan "in an open and transparent manner",[18]
• The 'ruling faction' had determined the election of mayor until 2013,[19] and
• Local Government Victoria had failed to adequately deal with complaints from residents about Council decision-making.[19]

In response to the Brouwer report, the Minister for Local Government, Richard Wynne, appointed William Scales to closely monitor the council over a three month period.[20] In his second report Scales found that, despite being closely monitored, there remained widespread misconduct amongst councillors, and recommended that councillors should be suspended or dismissed from their positions.[21] David Walker, a former police detective, was also appointed to investigate possible breaches of the Local Government Act.[22]

On 15 September, Wynne announced that Council would be dismissed, with administrators appointed until November 2012.[23] On 17 November, the Victorian Government appointed Peter Lewinsky, Joanne Anderson and Meredith Sussex as administrators for a three-year period.[24] Investigations into the conduct of Seitz, along with councillors Suleyman, Kathryn Eriksson and Troy Atanasovski, concluded in December with the Local Government Inspectorate informing those involved that it would take no further action.[25]

In May 2012, the Victorian Government announced it would extend the tenure of administrators for a further three years,[26] with Lewinsky reappointed alongside John Watson and former Brimbank commissioner Jane Nathan.[27]

In October 2016, council elections were held in Brimbank for the first time in eight years. Two former councillors were re-elected: Sam David and Margaret Giudice, the latter having rescinded her Labor Party membership in 2014.[28]

Wards and councillors

For electing councillors Brimbank is divided into the following wards:

• Grasslands Ward (includes the suburbs of Albanvale, Cairnlea, Kings Park, Deer Park and St Albans West) with 3 Councillors.
• Harvester Ward (includes the suburbs of Albion, Ardeer, Brooklyn, Derrimut, Sunshine, Sunshine North and Sunshine West) with 3 Councillors.
• Horseshoe Bend Ward (includes the suburbs of Keilor Park, Keilor East, Kealba, Tullamarine, St Albans East, Keilor and Tullamarine) with 2 Councillors.
• Taylors Ward (includes the suburbs of Calder Park, Keilor North, Keilor Lodge, Keilor Downs, Taylors Lakes, Delahey, Sydenham and Hillside) with 3 Councillors.

List of councillors[29]
Ward	Party		Councillor	Notes
Grasslands Ward		Independent	Victoria Borg
		Independent	Duyen Anh Pham
		Independent	Janev Aziz
Harvester Ward		Independent	Sam Hedditch
		Labor	Sam David JP
		Independent	Kim Thien Truong	Deputy Mayor
Horseshoe Bend Ward		Independent	Virginia Tachos
		Independent	Daniel Allan
Taylors Ward		Independent	Margaret Giudice
		Independent	Georgina Papafotiou	Mayor
		Liberal	Bruce Lancashire	[30]

Mayors

Mayors (1998–2009)

No.	Mayor	Party		Term
1	Ciro Lombardi		Labor	1998
2	Sam David JP		Labor	1998–1999
3	Brooke Gujinovic		Labor	1999–2000
4	Charlie Apap		Labor	2000–2001
5	Natalie Suleyman		Labor	2001–2002
6	Andres Puig		Labor	2002–2003
(2)	Sam David JP		Labor	2003–2004
(5)	Natalie Suleyman		Labor	2004–2006
7	Margaret Giudice		Labor	2006–2007
(2)	Sam David JP		Labor	2007–2008
8	Troy Atanasovski JP		Labor	2008–2009

Administrators (2009–2016)

Administrators	Term
Peter Lewinsky (Chair) Joanne Anderson Meredith Sussex AM	2009–2012
John Watson (Chair) Peter Lewinsky Jane Nathan	2012–2014
John Watson (Chair) Jane Nathan John Tanner	2014–2016

Mayors (2016–present)

No.	Mayor	Party		Term
9	Sam Hedditch		Independent	2016–2017
(7)	Margaret Giudice		Independent	2017–2018
10	Lucinda Congreve		Independent	2018–2019
11	Georgina Papafotiou		Independent	2019–2020

Demographics

Selected historical census data for City of Brimbank local government area
Census year			2001[31]	2006[32]	2011[33]	2016[34]
Population		Estimated residents on census night	162,931	168,215	182,735	194,319
		LGA rank in terms of size within Victoria		3rd	3rd	6th
		% of Victoria population	3.53%	3.41%	3.41%	3.28%
		% of Australian population	0.87%	0.85%	0.85%	0.83%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Vietnamese			11.0%	13.3%
		English			10.2%	9.7%
		Australian			11.1%	10.3%
		Italian			6.1%	5.4%
		Maltese			5.8%
		Chinese				5.4%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Vietnamese	10.4%	12.6%	14.2%	16.2%
		Maltese	5.2%	4.0%	3.3%	2.7%
		Italian	4.6%	3.8%	3.2%	2.5%
		Greek	4.2%	3.7%	3.2%	2.7%
		Macedonian	4.1%	3.5%	2.9%
		Punjabi				2.9%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Catholic	42.9%	40.1%	36.1%	31.3%
		Orthodox	11.6%	10.5%	9.2%	6.4%
		Buddhism	9.1%	10.8%	11.8%	10.8%
		No religion	7.9%	9.3%	11.0%	16.8%
		Anglican	5.9%	5.3%
		Islam			5.6%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$358	A$429	A$487
		% of Australian median income		76.8%	74.4%	73.6%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1029	A$1195	A$1358
		% of Australian median income		87.8%	80.7%	78.3%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$921	A$1106	A$1263
		% of Australian median income		98.2%	89.6%	87.8%
Dwelling structure
Dwelling type		Separate house	88.7%	82.4%	76.9%	73.2%
		Semi-detached, terrace or townhouse	4.0%	10.3%	5.0%	13.1%
		Flat or apartment	6.3%	7.0%	7.5%	4.5%

Suburbs

• Albanvale
• Albion
• Ardeer
• Brooklyn (shared with the City of Hobsons Bay)
• Cairnlea
• Calder Park
• Deer Park
• Delahey
• Derrimut
• Hillside (shared with the Shire of Melton)
• Kealba
• Keilor (shared with the City of Hume)
• Keilor Downs
• Keilor East (shared with the City of Moonee Valley)
• Keilor Lodge
• Keilor North
• Keilor Park
• Kings Park
• St Albans
• Sunshine
• Sunshine North
• Sunshine West
• Sydenham
• Taylors Lakes
• Tullamarine (shared with the Cities of Hume and Moreland)

References

1. "3218.0 – Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2017-18: Population Estimates by Local Government Area (ASGS 2018), 2017 to 2018". Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 30 March 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Brimbank". Victorian Heritage Database. Heritage Council of Victoria. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
4. Caldwell, Alison (1 August 2008). "Vic Labor MP takes party feud public". The World Today. ABC News. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
5. Brouwer 2009, p. 16.
6. Brouwer 2009, p. 19.
7. Brouwer 2009, p. 9.
8. Brouwer 2009, p. 181.
9. Brouwer 2009, p. 25.
10. Brouwer 2009, p. 45.
11. Brouwer 2009, p. 65.
12. Brouwer 2009, p. 76.
13. Brouwer 2009, p. 89.
14. Brouwer 2009, p. 97.
15. Brouwer 2009, p. 103.
16. Brouwer 2009, p. 155.
17. Brouwer 2009, p. 166.
18. Brouwer 2009, p. 180.
19. Brouwer 2009, p. 187.
20. Scales 2009, p. vii.
21. Scales 2009, p. 21.
22. Collins, Sarah-Jane; Dowling, Jason (19 May 2009). "Two charged with breach of municipal regulations". The Age. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
23. Johnston, Matt (15 September 2009). "Brimbank Council sacked by State Government after further findings of misconduct". Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
24. "Administrators to run Brimbank council". The Age. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
25. Rood, David (13 December 2009). "Brimbank probe decides on no action". The Age. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
26. Anderson, Stephanie (17 May 2012). "Brimbank to remain in hands of administrators". ABC News. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
27. "Brimbank council troika complete". Brimbank Weekly. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013.
28. "State election: Margaret Giudice seeks a marginal Kororoit". Melton & Moorabool Star Weekly. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
29. "Brimbank Council Mayor and Councillors". City of Brimbank.
30. Gartrell, Adam (28 May 2016). "Election 2016: Liberal candidate Chris Jermyn implodes at Bill Shorten event". The Sydney Morning Herald.
31. Australian Bureau of Statistics (9 March 2006). "City of Brimbank (C)". 2001 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
32. Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "City of Brimbank (C)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
33. Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "City of Brimbank (C)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
34. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Brimbank (C)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 July 2017.

Bibliography

• Brouwer, G E (7 May 2009), Investigation into the alleged improper conduct of councillors at Brimbank City Council (PDF), Melbourne: Ombudsman Victoria, archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2020, retrieved 24 June 2020 Alt URL
• Scales, Bill (21 August 2009), Report on the monitoring of the ongoing activities and performance of the Brimbank City Council (PDF), Melbourne: Local Government Victoria, retrieved 24 June 2020

External links

• Official website
• Metlink local public transport map
• City of Brimbank at the Local Government Victoria website