Twenty per cent of about 118,000 Hume voters have cast their vote over whether Sunbury forms its own shire or stays part of Hume council.
In Sunbury last week, Victorian Electoral Commission deputy returning officer Mick Sullivan told the Weekly the commission was receiving many phone calls from residents about the vote.
“The phone has been running pretty solidly. I took one of the interpreter call lines one day; I took 33 calls and that day we had about 100 calls.
“We’re quite happy with the response rate, but it’s difficult to say what the overall response will be.”
Joining Mr Sullivan in Sunbury, Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell said that if residents wanted to have their say on Sunbury’s future they needed to do it now.
She said there was no timeline set for her to make a decision on whether the issue would go to a panel.
“We will assess the votes when they come in and if there’s overwhelming response [favouring Sunbury’s secession] from Hume I will establish a panel.
“The panel will be done with huge community consultation … that will look at what is in and what’s out.
“The community will be able to have a say on what should be in.”
“There’s been discussions about Tullamarine [and the Melbourne Airport] and Racecourse Road [being part of the new shire] and it will be discussed at a later stage.”
Sunbury resident Dave Clements said while he would like to have a Sunbury shire, he would vote no because he couldn’t vote on something with an unclear outcome.
“I rang the Hume and Melton councils because of the Melbourne Airport and Diggers Rest issues and both councils said they hadn’t discussed the issue at this stage.
“How can I vote when you know nothing? Neither of the two shires are prepared to say anything and we know nothing about the debt which could be inherited by a new council.”
The postal vote closes on October 25.
