Mayor & councillors
Warrnambool has 7 councillors, one for each ward, elected in October 2024 for the 2024–2028 term. Voters don't elect the Mayor directly: the councillors choose one of themselves at the council's Annual Council Meeting, which was held in November in both 2024 and 2025.
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.
Who represents you
- Mayor
- Cr Ben Blain (Russells Creek Ward)Listed as Mayor on the council's councillor page after the Annual Council Meeting of 17 November 2025, and in Local Government Victoria's September 2026 contacts list, which records this as his third term as Mayor.
- Deputy Mayor
- Cr Matt Walsh (Pertobe Ward), per Local Government VictoriaLocal Government Victoria's September 2026 contacts list names Cr Matt Walsh. The council's councillor page, as archived on 29 November 2025, named Cr Vicki Jellie. We couldn't read the current council page to confirm.
- Councillors
- 7 — one per wardMatches the Victorian Electoral Commission's list of current councillors (checked Sep 2026).
- Next mayoral election
- Annual Council Meeting, expected in November 2026We haven't been able to confirm the date: the council's meetings page refused our requests. This page will be updated after that meeting.
- Changes since the 2024 election
- No by-elections or countbacksThe VEC lists no Warrnambool by-election or countback since October 2024. Its most recent Warrnambool entry is a countback on 11 March 2020.
Your representatives
Ben Blain
Mayor / Councillor · Russells Creek Ward
Matt Walsh
Deputy Mayor / Councillor · Pertobe Ward
Debbie Arnott
Councillor · Central Ward
Willy Benter
Councillor · Hopkins River Ward
Billy Edis
Councillor · Botanic Ward
Vicki Jellie
Councillor · Platypus Park Ward
Richard Ziegeler
Councillor · Wollaston Ward
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 link to the council's councillor page and the election results. The VEC lists Pertobe Ward's councillor as Matthew Walsh; the council calls him Cr Matt Walsh. The council's website refused our requests, so the email addresses come from a Wayback Machine copy of its councillors page (29 November 2025). If a councillor's seat falls vacant, Warrnambool's single-councillor wards fill it by a by-election, not a countback, as long as more than 6 months of the term remain.
Sources — check it yourself
- Victorian Electoral Commission — Warrnambool City Council (current councillors, past results) · Sep 2026
- Warrnambool City Council — Councillors (read from a Wayback Machine copy of 29 Nov 2025) · Nov 2025
- Local Government Victoria — Victorian local government contacts, September 2026 (mayor, mayoral term, deputy mayor) · Sep 2026
- Warrnambool City Council — Annual Council Meeting, 17 November 2025 (read from a Wayback Machine copy) · Nov 2025
- Victorian Electoral Commission — By-elections and countbacks timeline · Sep 2026
- Victorian Electoral Commission — 2024 Warrnambool City Council election results · Nov 2024
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.