The Sunbury poll result has evoked mixed reactions, with some voters saying they didn’t really understand what they were voting on and most saying they have no idea what happens next.
As reported in the Weekly, 60 per cent of the 51.03 per cent of Hume ratepayers who voted supported Sunbury getting its own shire. In Sunbury, Wildwood and Clarkefield, support was higher still, with 67 per cent of the 15,845 who voted backing secession from Hume council.
YES VOTERS
For those behind the Yes-vote push, the reaction has been positive, with most believing the poll delivered an adequately strong affirmation of a stand-alone shire.
Sunbury Residents Association president Bernie O’Farrell, who had campaigned for the Yes vote, said he was happy with the result.
“It was about what we expected and the votes in the rest of the municipality were really good,” Mr O’Farrell said. “It shows they believe in what we are trying to achieve.”
He said he didn’t believe that residents who voted Yes but lived in parts of Hume further from Sunbury had done so because they didn’t want Sunbury in Hume any more.
“It is possible, but I take the view that people supported us.”
Mr O’Farrell believes Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell will now form a panel to assess the shire’s future, but he doesn’t think this is likely to happen this year.
“I don’t know what the time frame is but, with Christmas coming up, there could be a real possibility this doesn’t happen until late January.”
Mr O’Farrell believes once a report from the panel is completed, a commissioner will be appointed to Sunbury for 12 to 18 months before a council election is held.
RELATED: Powell ponders the value of ‘yes’ vote
NO VOTERS
Although no group was specifically set up to oppose a Sunbury move out of Hume, a loose coalition of residents, including some organisers of the annual SunFest event, established an internet-based opinion page for people to post alternative views.
Kym Schubert, who voted against the move, said she was disappointed with the high Yes vote.
“There are a lot of people who did not vote, and I hope the minister realises that it is not cut and dried as some people have said,” Ms Schubert said.
“If you feel strongly about it, you will vote. But a lot of people thought it was easier just not to vote as they didn’t understand it.”
She said the whole process had left a bitter taste, and she described the behaviour of some residents in the lead-up to the vote as “pathetic”.
But it was the aftermath of the poll, at Hume’s mayoral vote last week, where Sunbury residents really let fly following a boycott by councillors Jack Medcraft and Jack Ogilvie of the council team photo, a protest that puts Craigieburn’s Casey Nunn in the chair for the next 12 months instead of it being taken by a Sunbury councillor.
At the reception afterwards, Sunbury resident Edith Collins told the Weekly: “I don’t know [if] Sunbury can afford to stand alone.”
And on the mayoral photo boycott by two of her local representatives on the council, Mrs Collins said: “I think they should be stood down. They’d just signed the (councillor) code of conduct.”
COUNCIL VIEWS
Incoming mayor Casey Nunn said she was inundated with phone calls and emails before the Sunbury-out-of-Hume vote.
She felt there were a lot of people still disappointed with the whole process after the count.
“Some people in Greenvale had no idea what they were voting for and voted No for that reason,” Cr Nunn said.
“People from both sides of the argument have being saying the results are good, as the results can be taken either way.
“We [the council] will be seeking clarification on what is next and making sure that no one is worse off.”
