← Mornington Peninsula Shire Council
Mayor & councillors

Mayor & councillors

Mornington Peninsula has 11 wards, each with one councillor, elected in October 2024 for the 2024–2028 term. One seat, Briars Ward, is vacant. Anthony Marsh resigned in May 2026 after he was elected to the Victorian Parliament, and the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is running a by-election for the seat. Voters don't elect the Mayor directly: the councillors choose one of themselves.

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 Stephen Batty (Kackeraboite Ward)Elected Mayor by the councillors in June 2026 (Shire announcement of 16 June 2026), after the resignation of the previous Mayor, Cr Anthony Marsh.
Deputy Mayor
Cr Paul Pingiaro (Tanti Ward)Deputy Mayor since November 2024, re-elected in November 2025. He was Acting Mayor between Cr Marsh's resignation and Cr Batty's election.
Councillors
10 in office, 1 vacancy (Briars Ward)Matches the VEC's list of current councillors and the Shire's councillors page (checked Sep 2026).
Briars Ward by-election
Postal voting closes 6pm Friday 2 October 2026; counting from Saturday 3 OctoberTwo candidates are listed by the VEC, in ballot-paper order: Sue Ellison-Whyte and Christine Leahy. The VEC will declare the result. This page will be updated when it does.VEC by-election page →
Next mayoral election
Not yet publishedThe Shire's 2026 meeting-dates page doesn't list its next Annual Meeting. In 2024 and 2025 the councillors elected the Mayor at an Annual Meeting in November.

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. Briars Ward has no councillor until the by-election result is declared; the Shire's page for the vacancy lists the Mayor as the contact in the meantime. 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.