Candidate Training and Information

Local Government Victoria and the Victorian Electorate Commission require people to meet certain eligibility criteria in order to become a council election candidate.

To nominate as a candidate for election as a Baw Baw Shire Councillor you must:

  • have completed the mandatory Local Government candidate training before nominating;
  • be an Australian Citizen;
  • be aged 18 years or older on election day;
  • be enrolled to vote in Baw Baw Shire; and
  • not be disqualified from being a councillor.

You must ensure the disqualifications under s 34(2) of the Local Government Act 2020 do not apply to you.

There are also a number of optional training opportunities to help candidates better prepare for the election campaign process.   

Mandatory Candidate Training

The Victorian Government is providing training for members of the Victorian community who wish to nominate as a candidate in the council elections.

The training will help you understand the role and responsibilities of being a councillor.

You will not be able to nominate as a candidate unless you have completed the training. This is a new requirement, introduced in the Local Government Act 2020.

Click here to register for the mandatory candidate training.

For more information download this fact sheet(PDF, 855KB) or visit the Local Government Victoria website.

In addition to the mandatory candidate training, there are a variety of optional information sessions and training opportunities for candidates.

Candidate Information Sessions

The Victorian Electoral Commission are hosting two in-person information sessions to learn more about becoming a candidate in the upcoming election.

You don’t need to register to come to a session.

Click here for more information

Wednesday 4 September

Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Drouin Community Hub, 1 Oak Street Drouin. 

Thursday 5 September

Time: 5:30pm
Venue: Trafalgar Community Centre, 105 Princes Highway Trafalgar. 

Additional Resources

In addition to the mandatory training and the optional information session detailed above, all prospective candidates are encouraged to familiarise themselves with the information available at the websites below to ensure their eligibility:

Specific queries relating to elections may need to be directed to the Victorian Electoral Commission, the below links may be helpful to prospective candidates: 

The Victorian Electoral Commission is in the process of updating its resources for the 2024 elections, but the 2020 candidate handbook remains a one-stop shop for useful candidate information, to download the handbook, visit the VEC website.

Baw Baw Shire Council is divided into three wards, each ward represented by three Councillors.

The ward boundaries were recently reviewed by the VEC and updated by the Minister for Local Government. Click here to read about the review and view the updated ward map. 

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