Nambucca Valley Council


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 and is located adjacent to the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line. At the, 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. Within the Shire's boundaries is Bowraville, one of the most socially disadvantaged areas in Australia.
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. The area was renamed Nambucca Valley from 4 December 2019.

Towns and localities

Towns and localities in the Nambucca Valley Council area:

Heritage listings

The Nambucca Valley has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:
At the, there were 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.
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, being one of the factors that place parts of the Nambucca Valley Council in an area of social disadvantage.
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. 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 ; and a significantly higher proportion of residents 89.0 per cent where English only was spoken at home. 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.

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

Election results

2024

2021