Ballina Shire is a local government area in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed on 1 January 1977 by the amalgamation of the Municipality of Ballina and Tintenbar Shire. The Shire is located adjacent to the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Highway. The council seat is located in the town of Ballina. The population of the Ballina Shire area was 46,850 in 2022.

The mayor of Ballina Shire Council is Sharon Cadwallader.

Towns and localities

Other localities

Heritage listings

The Ballina Shire has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

• High Conservation Value Old Growth forest

Demographics

At the 2016 census, there were 41,790 people in the Ballina local government area; of these 48.2 per cent were male and 51.8 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 3.3 per cent of the population, which was higher than the national (2.9%) and state averages (2.8%). The median age of people in the Ballina Shire area was 48 years, which was significantly higher than the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0–14 years made up 16.7 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 25.0 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 48.9 per cent were married and 14.4 per cent were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the Ballina Shire area between the 2001 census and the 2006 census was 3.89 per cent; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 census, population growth was 2.11 per cent. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78 per cent and 8.32 per cent respectively, population growth in the Ballina local government area was significantly lower than the national average. Growth increased to a 9.2% increase between 2011 and 2016, compared to a national average of 8.8%. The median weekly income for residents within the Ballina Shire area was significantly lower than the national average.

At the 2016 census, the proportion of residents in the Ballina local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or English exceeded 60 per cent of all residents (national average was 48.3 per cent). Nearly 60% of all residents in the Ballina nominated a religious affiliation with Christianity at the 2011 census. Ballina Shire had a significantly higher proportion of households (89.1 per cent) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 72.7 per cent).

Selected historical census data for the Ballina Shire local government area
Census year		2001	2006	2011	2016
Population	Estimated residents on census night	37,017	38,461	39,274	41,790
	LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales			50th	50th
	% of New South Wales population			0.56%
	% of Australian population	0.20%	0.19%	0.18%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses	English			32.0%	31.5%
	Australian			31.2%	28.8%
	Irish			10.5%	10.5%
	Scottish			8.1%	8.7%
	German			3.1%	3.2%
Language, top responses (other than English)	Italian	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.3%
	German	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%	0.3%
	Dutch	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%	0.2%
	Spanish	n/c	n/c	0.2%	0.2%
	Japanese	n/c	n/c	0.2%	n/c
	French				0.2%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses	Catholic	25.1%	25.5%	25.1%	21.9%
	Anglican	28.4%	26.1%	24.2%	19.1%
	No Religion	13.4%	17.4%	21.4%	30.2%
	Uniting Church	7.4%	6.3%	5.6%	4.3%
	Presbyterian and Reformed	6.4%	5.6%	5.2%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income	Median weekly personal income		A$397	A$496	A$601
	% of Australian median income		85.2%	86.0%	90.8%
Family income	Median weekly family income		A$1,017	A$1,153	A$1426
	% of Australian median income		86.8%	77.9%	82.2%
Household income	Median weekly household income		A$779	A$930	A$1156
	% of Australian median income		75.9%	75.4%	80.4%

Council

Current composition and election method

Ballina Shire Council is composed of ten councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is directly elected while the nine other councillors are elected proportionally as three separate wards, each electing three councillors. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, including the mayor, is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Sharon Cadwallader Team	4
	Independents	3
	Greens	2
	Nationals	1
	Total	10

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election by ward, is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Mayor		Sharon Cadwallader	Sharon Cadwallader Team
Ward A		Phil Meehan	Independent
		Rod Bruem	Sharon Cadwallader Team
		Stephen McCarthy	Nationals
Ward B		Jeff Johnson	Independent
		Eva Ramsey	Sharon Cadwallader Team
		Kiri Dicker	Greens
Ward C		Eoin Johnston	Independent
		Simon Chate	Greens
		Nigel Buchanan	Sharon Cadwallader Team

Election results

2021