City of Greater Dandenong


The City of Greater Dandenong is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of just under 130 square kilometres and 166,094 residents in 2018. 29% of its land area forms part of the South East Green Wedge.
It was formed in 1994 by the merger of parts of the former City of Dandenong and City of Springvale.

History

In 1994, the state government restructured local government in Victoria. The reforms dissolved 210 councils and created 78 new councils through amalgamations. As part of the reforms City of Springvale and City of Dandenong were merged to create City of Greater Dandenong.

Council

Greater Dandenong City Council comprises 11 councillors, elected from four wards: Lightwood, Paperbark, Red Gum and Silverleaf. Councillors are elected to fixed-four year terms in a proportional manner using the STV voting system, with each ward electing Councillors based on their respective population.
Elections are held every four years, in accordance with the Local Government Act 1989, with voting being compulsory. Nevertheless, voter turnout figures by the Victorian Electoral Commission reveal that only 70.8% of eligible voters voted at the last council election in 2016.

Mayor

The mayor is the head of the municipality, leading and coordinating the council's work. The position of mayor is a mostly ceremonial one, expected to represent the City and act as its public spokesperson. The mayor is not entirely a figurehead, however, instead being tasked with chairing council meetings and being involved with a greater number of community events such as citizenship ceremonies.
A mayor is elected among the councillors for a term of one year, meaning that each period between two local government elections usually sees four mayorships. The current Mayor is Cr Jim Memeti, who since November 2019 has been serving his forth term in the role. Clare O'Neil became the youngest female mayor in Australian history when she served as Mayor of Greater Dandenong from 2003 to 2004.

Current composition

The composition of Greater Dandenong City Council is one of the most Labor-dominated in the state, demonstrated by its high percentage of councillors who are members of the party and its below-average number of independent councillors. This political membership is reflected through the local federal and state MPs, both of whom are ALP-affiliated. The most recent elections were held on 22 October 2016 and produced the following results:

Places of interest

play home games at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium and compete in the WNBL. Two championships have been won in the 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons and again in 2005/2006 the team reached the Grand Final only to lose to the Canberra Capitals.
Dandenong Thunder compete in the Victorian Premier League, playing at George Andrews Reserve.
The Greater Dandenong Warriors Hockey Club is based at the Bill Toon Playing fields on Cleeland Road, Dandenong North. The club currently fields 5 Men's teams, 2 Women's teams, 6 Junior teams and 3 Veteran's team.

Community groups

Greater Dandenong has many active community groups.
Service clubs include the Lions Club of Greater Dandenong, the Lions Club of Dandenong, the Lions Club of Dandenong, the Rotary Club of Dandenong, the Rotary Club of Noble Park and the Rotary Club of Springvale.

Schools

Due to this connection these schools in Greater Dandenong have established relationships with schools in Xuzhou: