For the past few months, Cr Roberts has been the only member of the northernmost ward on Yarriambiack Shire Council, after long-term Councillor Helen Ballentine stood down effective immediately in June.

It means one new councillor will be elected in the ward. This is part of the reason he is running again.

"I think it's important you have an experienced councillor in the ward," he said.

"There have seen changes to the Local Government Act (2020), and the chief executive, so I don't think it would be fair to have two new councillors come on board and try to get their head around what they need to do."

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"It's quite possible to have councillors elected from the Warracknabeal or Dunmunkle ward that have never been to some of the towns in Hopetoun, so I think it's important we have someone that is familiar with the country.

"It's also some stability. There have been some changes in the four years I've been on the council."

Cr Roberts said it was important people knew that despite the ward system, all seven shire councillors represented the entire shire. He said he wanted to continue to have the opportunity to make Hopetoun "a great place to be".

"I've got a young family, and early in this new term, we will be putting together a 10-year plan, as part of the changes to the act. My youngest is three years old, and after 10 years I'll be using the kindergarten, primary school and high school in this community. I want to have some input into that plan."

Cr Roberts said his advocacy for the Ballarat-Ouyen V-Line bus, to ensure it kept separate arrival times on Friday to the other days of the week, was his most rewarding achievement as a councillor.

The other candidates announced so far:

Nominations for the Victorian local council elections open on Thursday. Candidate information will be progressively made available on the VEC website from that date-vec.vic.gov.au.

Candidates for each council will be updated progressively on the VEC website during the nomination period, from Thursday until 12 noon Tuesday September 22.The list will be updated twice daily each weekday during the nomination period.

No nominations will be taken over the weekend.

Following the close of nominations, each council's Election Manager will conduct a ballot draw to determine the order that candidates' names will appear on the ballot paper.This final list of candidates, in ballot paper order, will be available on the VEC website late Tuesday afternoon.

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