← Bellingen Shire Council
Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Bellingen Shire is an undivided council for councillor purposes — its six councillors are elected proportionally across the whole local government area as one ward — but, unusually for a rural NSW council, the Mayor is directly elected by voters (rather than chosen by the councillors), giving seven elected members in total. Below is who currently holds office, with links to their official profiles and the September 2024 election results.

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 →
Mayor
Cr Steve Allan (Waterfall Way Independents)Directly elected by voters at the 14 September 2024 election — his second term as Mayor.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Graeme Shephard (Community First)Elected Deputy Mayor by the councillors in June 2025, succeeding Cr Ellie Tree.
Councillors
7 total — Mayor directly elected + 6 elected at-large (undivided)
How the Mayor is chosen
Directly elected by voters (not by the councillors)

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. Affiliations are the ticket/group each councillor was elected under at the September 2024 election (NSW Electoral Commission): Waterfall Way Independents, Community First and Greens were the three groups that stood. Cr Linda Coomber joined in June 2025 via a countback election (filling the vacancy left by Cr Eleanor Tree's resignation), elected from the Waterfall Way Independents group's own ticket. A council's makeup can change between elections through casual vacancies, 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.