← Balranald Shire Council
Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Balranald Shire is an undivided (at-large) council: its eight councillors are elected across the whole local government area by proportional representation, rather than by ward. The councillors elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor from among themselves — the council states this happens "bi-annually at an Ordinary Meeting in September" — so Balranald does not have a popularly elected mayor. This is the shire's first elected council since January 2020: for more than four and a half years the council's functions were exercised by a state-appointed Administrator, and an elected body resumed at the September 2024 election. The facts below set out both the current roster and that governance history, as the official record states it.

New to these terms? Read them in plain English
How the mayor is chosen
Either elected directly by voters, or chosen by the councillors.
Ward
A subdivision of a council area that elects its own councillors.
Local Government Area (LGA)
The official area a council governs.
NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC)
Runs council elections and publishes the official results.
See the full explainer, with formulas →

Who represents you

Mayor
Cr Louie ZaffinaElected Mayor by the councillors. The NSW Electoral Commission's 2024 result shows no group or party code against his name, so no affiliation is recorded here rather than guessed. Contact 0419 514 906 / lzaffina@balranald.nsw.gov.au.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Dwaine Scott (Independent)Elected Deputy Mayor by the councillors. Contact 0429 959 178 / dscott@balranald.nsw.gov.au.
Councillors
8 total — undivided (single ward, elected by proportional representation)Council meets monthly, generally the third Tuesday at 5:00pm in the Council Chambers, Market Street, Balranald. Meetings are open to the public and are streamed; agendas, minutes and recordings are published.
How the Mayor is chosen
Elected by the councillors (not by popular vote), at an Ordinary Meeting in September
Governance history
Administrator 29 January 2020 – September 2024; Performance Improvement Orders closed May 2026Following a public inquiry held under section 438U of the Local Government Act (Commissioner Roslyn McCulloch, appointed 24 January 2019, report dated 25 November 2019), the Governor of New South Wales appointed an Administrator to Balranald Shire Council on 29 January 2020. Mr Michael Colreavy held the role until the September 2024 election restored an elected council. On 14 May 2026 the council announced that the Minister for Local Government had confirmed the Performance Improvement Orders applying to it — a 2024 Order and outstanding actions from a 2017 Order — would be closed, following its fourth and final compliance report. The Office of Local Government's investigations and interventions page lists the Balranald inquiry as completed and does not list the council among current interventions.

Your representatives

Want to raise something? Contacting your ward councillor or the mayor is one of the most direct ways to be heard between elections.

We list who's in office and link to their official profiles and the election results; we don't characterise anyone's politics. Party labels are those each councillor was elected under at the September 2024 election (NSW Electoral Commission) — seven of the eight were declared with an Independent (IND) code; the NSWEC result shows no group code for Louie Zaffina, so his affiliation is left blank here rather than guessed. Two names are spelled differently by the two official sources: the council writes "Phillip Pippin" and "Iain Lindsay-Field" where the NSWEC writes "Philip PIPPIN" and "Iain LINDSAY FIELD"; the council's spelling is used above. Casual vacancies can change the makeup, so the council's official page has the most current list.

Sources — check it yourself

Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.