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Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Greater Bendigo has 9 wards, each with one councillor, elected in October 2024 for the 2024–2028 term. One seat, Lockwood Ward, is vacant. The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) says it is holding a by-election for the ward 'after the death of Councillor Donna Nicholas', who had been elected at a by-election in March 2026. Voters don't elect the Mayor directly: the councillors choose one of themselves, for a one-year term.

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.
See the full explainer, with formulas →

Who represents you

Mayor
Cr Thomas Prince (Lake Weeroona Ward)Elected Mayor by the councillors for 2025–2026 at a council meeting on 11 November 2025. Cr Andrea Metcalf was Mayor for the year before.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Karen Corr (Golden Square Ward)Elected Deputy Mayor for 2025–2026 at the same meeting.
Councillors
8 in office, 1 vacancy (Lockwood Ward)As listed by the VEC (checked Sep 2026). The council's councillors page still showed Cr Donna Nicholas for Lockwood Ward when we checked; the council published a tribute on her passing on 10 July 2026, and the VEC gives the vacancy date as 8 July 2026.
Lockwood Ward by-election
Voting closes 6pm Friday 2 October 2026; the VEC lists earliest results as Wednesday 14 October 2026Six candidates are listed by the VEC, in ballot-paper order: Grant Lockwood, Ajay Mishra, MaryAnn Martinek, David Thorpe, Emily Edgar and Robert Phillip Holian. The VEC will declare the result. This page will be updated when it does.VEC by-election page →
Earlier change in Lockwood Ward
Resignation in November 2025, by-election in March 2026Cr John McIlrath, elected for Lockwood Ward in 2024, stepped down at the council meeting of 17 November 2025, citing work-related time commitments. Donna Nicholas was elected at the by-election on 28 March 2026.
Next mayoral election
Monday 9 November 2026The council's meeting calendar lists this meeting as the one to 'Elect Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2026/2027'.Meeting details →
Allowances
Mayor $146,640 · Deputy Mayor $59,549 · Councillor $45,500 a yearSet by the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal for a Category C council, including superannuation or equivalent, as listed on the council's councillors page.

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.

Victorian council ballot papers and results don't show party affiliation, so we don't label councillors. We list who holds office, with their council email addresses and official profiles, and link to the election results. For general questions, the council's Councillor Support team is at councillor.support@bendigo.vic.gov.au. In a single-councillor ward, a vacancy with more than 6 months of the term left is filled by a by-election, not a countback. For the latest list, see the council's page or the VEC.

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.