Council election result declared

Melbourne’s new Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and seven councillors were sworn in on 4 December 2008.

All councillors are elected by residents, owners, occupiers of rateable property, and representatives of corporations that own or occupy rateable property within the municipality.

The 2008 elections were conducted by postal vote with votes closing on Friday, 28 November 2008. The number of voters enrolled was 97,855. The participation rate (total number of votes received as a percentage of the total enrolment) was 62.14 per cent for the leadership team and 62.26 per cent for the councillors.

Subject to limited statutory exceptions, voting is compulsory for every enrolled voter.
The Melbourne City Council election results were declared on Tuesday, 2 December 2008. The next elections will be held in November 2012.

Click here for more detail about Melbourne City Councillors.

Melbourne adapts to the big dry

Drought continues in south-eastern Australia. With an increasing population and the impacts of climate change, Melbourne’s water supply and management is under increasing pressure.

Drought proofing is an important water management strategy and in December 2008 a 6 megalitre underground water storage tank was installed at Ross Straw Oval, adding significantly to the water storage capacity associated with Royal Park wetlands. Other drought proofing works in 2008–09 included rainwater harvesting at sporting pavilions, stormwater diversion into ponds at Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens, replanting park lawns with warm season grasses and grey water recycling at Flagstaff Gardens.

Public consultation on our water strategy, Total Watermark – City as a Catchment, opened in July 2008 and the strategy was adopted by the Melbourne City Council in October. The strategy sets out local waste management solutions and proposes meeting most of the municipality’s water needs through stormwater runoff from roads and footpaths, capturing rain from rooftops and improving the water quality in our waterways.

Reducing water use
The City of Melbourne currently uses around 6 per cent of the total water consumed in the municipality.

Water consumption has fallen by more than half in the past decade. Two significant factors in reducing the city’s water use have been our Water Conservation Plan 2007 and the use of reclaimed stormwater from the Royal Park Wetlands.

Total water use increased over the last financial year due to a long-term lack of rain coupled with days of extreme temperatures during the 2008–09 summer, which required additional water to prevent long-term damage to parks.

Figure 7. Water use by the City of Melbourne, 1999-2009⁸
Source: Billing data including the corporate database 'Stark Essentials'

⁸ Due to billing cycles the 2008–09 figure includes some estimated calculation based on current and season trends. It will be adjusted for the 2009–10 annual report

The City of Melbourne's parks (open spaces), administration buildings, community buildings (such as child care centres) all use water. Water used to irrigate open spaces accounted for almost 93 per cent of our total water use.

Figure 8. Water use by activity⁹
Source: Billing data including the corporate database 'Stark Essentials'

⁹ Due to billing cycles the 2008–09 figure includes some estimated calculation based on current and season trends. It will be adjusted for the 2009–10 annual report