Nambucca Valley Council

Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox Australian place Nambucca Valley Council is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.

The shire services an area of Template:Convert and is located adjacent to the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line. At the Template:CensusAU, Nambucca Valley Council had a high proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people residing within its boundaries; being 7.6 per cent of the population, nearly treble the national and state averages of 2.8 and 2.9 per cent respectively.<ref name="Census2016" /> Within the Shire's boundaries is Bowraville, one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in Australia.<ref name=SEIFA/>

The mayor of the Nambucca Valley Council is Gary Lee, an independent politician.

The local government area was created on 15 December 1915, from land excised from Bellingen Shire, and was originally called Nambucca Shire.<ref>Template:Gazette NSW</ref> The area was renamed Nambucca Valley from 4 December 2019.<ref>Template:Gazette NSW</ref>

Towns and localities

Towns and localities in the Nambucca Valley Council area: Template:Columns-list

Heritage listings

The Nambucca Valley has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• Macksville, North Coast railway: Macksville railway station<ref name=nswshr-1184>Template:Cite NSW SHR</ref>

Demographics

Nambucca Heads aerial panorama

At the Template:CensusAU, there were 20,407 people in the Nambucca Valley local government area, of these 48.7 per cent were male and 51.3 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 8.0 per cent of the population, which was greater than the national and state averages of 3.2 and 3.4 per cent respectively. The median age of people in the Nambucca Valley Council was 52 years, some fourteen years higher than the national median. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.7 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 30.0 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 42.4 per cent were married and 17.6 per cent were either divorced or separated.<ref name="Census2021"/>

The median weekly income for residents within the Nambucca Valley Council was significantly below the national average with $976 household income compared to $1,746 nationally,<ref name="Census2021"/> being one of the factors that place parts of the Nambucca Valley Council in an area of social disadvantage.<ref name=SEIFA>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the 2021 Census, the proportion of residents in the Nambucca Valley Council local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or Anglo-Saxon was 84.2 per cent of all residents (the national average was 62.9 per cent). About 40.4 per cent of all residents in the Nambucca Valley Council identified with No Religion, so described at the 2021 census, which was slightly higher than the national average of 38.4 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the 2021 census date, compared to the national average, households in the Nambucca Valley Council local government area had a significantly lower than average proportion of residents that 4.3 per cent spoke two or more languages at home (the national average was 24.8 per cent); and a significantly higher proportion of residents 89.0 per cent where English only was spoken at home (the national average was 72.0 per cent). Of the other languages, 0.3% of residents stated they speak Punjabi, 0.2% of residents stated they speak German, 0.2% stated they speak Nepali, 0.2% of residents stated that they speak Gumbaynggir, an Australian Aboriginal language, and 0.2% of residents stated they speak French.<ref name="Census2021"/>

Selected historical census data for Nambucca local government area
Census year			2001<ref name="Census2001">Template:Census 2001 AUS</ref>	2006<ref name="Census2006">Template:Census 2006 AUS</ref>	2011<ref name="Census2011">Template:Census 2011 AUS</ref>	2016<ref name="Census2016">Template:Census 2016 AUS</ref>	2021<ref name="Census2021" />
Population		Estimated residents on census night	17,660	Template:Increase 17,897	Template:Increase 18,644	Template:Increase 19,212	Template:Increase 20,407
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales			Template:Dtsst
		% of New South Wales population	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	0.27%	Template:Decrease 0.26%	Template:Decrease 0.25%
		% of Australian population	0.09%	Template:Steady 0.09%	Template:Steady 0.09%	Template:Decrease 0.08	Template:Steady 0.08%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		Australian	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	33.4%	Template:Decrease 33.2%	Template:Increase 41.0%
		English	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	32.6%	Template:Decrease 31.9%	Template:Increase 43.2%
		Irish	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	8.7%	Template:Decrease 8.6%	Template:Increase 11.6%
		Scottish	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	7.9%	Template:Decrease 7.8%	Template:Increase 11.2%
		German	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	3.0%	Template:Decrease 2.9%	Template:Ndash
		Australian Aboriginal	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	7.4%
Language, top responses (other than English)		German	0.3%	Template:Steady 0.3%	Template:Loss 0.2%	Template:Decrease 0.1%	Template:Increase 0.2%
		Gumbaynggir	Template:Ndash	0.1%	Template:Profit 0.2%	Template:Decrease 0.1%	Template:Increase 0.2%
		French	0.1%	Template:Steady 0.1%	Template:Profit 0.2%	Template:Steady 0.2%	Template:Steady 0.2%
		Dutch	Template:Ndash	0.1%	Template:Profit 0.2%	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash
		Nepali	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash	0.2%
		Italian	0.2%	Template:Loss 0.1%	Template:Steady 0.1%	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Anglican	30.3%	Template:Loss 28.1%	Template:Loss 25.7%	Template:Decrease 21.7%	Template:Decrease 15.8%
		Catholic	22.1%	Template:Loss 21.4%	Template:Profit 21.8%	Template:Decrease 19.4%	Template:Decrease 17.2%
		No Religion	13.5%	Template:Profit 17.8%	Template:Profit 21.2%	Template:Increase 29.2%	Template:Increase 40.4%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	6.2%	Template:Loss 5.8%	Template:Loss 5.5%	Template:Decrease 4.8%	Template:Decrease 3.6%
		Uniting Church	6.8%	Template:Loss 6.4%	Template:Loss 5.3%	Template:Ndash	Template:Ndash
		Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		$296	Template:Increase $377	Template:Increase $467	Template:Increase $527
		% of Australian median income		63.5%	Template:Gain 65.3%	Template:Increase 70.5%	Template:Decrease 65.2%
Family income		Median weekly family income		$562	Template:Increase $853	Template:Increase $1080	Template:Increase $1309
		% of Australian median income		54.7%	Template:Gain 57.6%	Template:Increase 62.2%	Template:Decrease 61.74%
Household income		Median weekly household income		$642	Template:Increase $700	Template:Increase $835	Template:Increase $976
		% of Australian median income		54.8%	Template:Gain 56.7%	Template:Increase 58.1%	Template:Decrease 55.8

Council

Current composition and election method

Nambucca Valley Council is composed of nine councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is directly elected while the eight other councillors are elected proportionally as one entire ward. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021.

Party		Councillors
Template:Australian party style|	Independents	7
Template:Australian party style|	Labor	1
Template:Australian party style|	Greens	1
	Total	9

The current Council, elected in 2024, in order of election, is:

Councillor		Party	Notes
Template:Australian party style|	Gary Lee	Independent	Mayor
Template:Australian party style|	James Angel	Independent
Template:Australian party style|	Ljubov Simson	Independent
Template:Australian party style|	David Jones	Greens
Template:Australian party style|	Susan Jenvey	Labor
Template:Australian party style|	Jane Smith	Independent
Template:Australian party style|	Troy Vance	Independent
Template:Australian party style|	Tamara Castle	Independent
Template:Australian party style|	Martin Ballangarry	Independent

See also

• Local government in New South Wales