The Municipality of Kiama is a local government area in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is situated south of Shellharbour and the City of Wollongong and is located adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, the Princes Highway and the South Coast railway line.

Towns and localities

The Municipality of Kiama contains the following towns and localities:

Municipal history

The municipality of Kiama was created in 1859. There were three wards: Kiama, Gerringong and Jamberoo. The first council comprised James Colley, John Sharpe and Joseph Pike (representing the Kiama Ward); John Hukins, John Colley and John Hanrahan (representing the Jamberoo Ward); and Joseph Blow, Robert Miller and James Robinson (representing the Gerringong Ward). The first mayor of Kiama was James Colley.

In 1871, Gerringong separated from the Kiama municipality and Jamberoo in 1892. In 1954, the Gerringong, Jamberoo and Kiama municipalities were amalgamated forming today's current municipal boundaries.

Kiama has had three female mayors: Ruth Devenney (1991 until 1992), Joyce Wheatley (1992 until 2000) and Sandra McCarthy (2000 until 2012).

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Kiama merge with the City of Shoalhaven to form a new council with an area of 4,825 square kilometres (1,863 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 120,000. The Kiama community along with the Shoalhaven community actively campaigned against any forced council amalgamation between the two councils. Kiama council held a non-compulsory poll on 7 May 2016 to grasp community attitudes to the proposal. The results of the poll concluded that 95% of the community supported remaining an independent council, with a 49.9% turnout. On 12 May 2016, the NSW State Government determined not to amalgamate Kiama and Shoalhaven council areas.

Demographics

At the 2021 census the total population of the Municipality was 23,074 people. The median age of the community was 48 years.

About 8.2% of the population was born outside of Australia, with the top countries of birth being England at 5.2%, New Zealand at 1.3%, Scotland at 0.6%, the United States of America at 0.6% and Germany at 0.5%. The Indigenous Australian population is 2.3% of the total community population.

English was spoken as a first language by 91.0% of the population. The top response for languages spoken at home other than English was Italian at 0.4%, followed by German at 0.3%, Spanish at 0.3%, Greek at 0.3% and French at 0.3%.

Council

Current composition and election method

The council of the municipality of Kiama is composed of nine councillors elected proportionally as a single ward. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021 and the makeup of the council is as follows:

Party		Councillors
	Australian Labor Party	2
	The Greens	2
	Independents	1
	S.A.F.E. Kiama	1
	Team Reilly	1
	We Love Kiama Gerringong Jamberoo	1
	Your Community Candidates	1
	Total	9

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

Councillor		Party	Notes
	Kathy Rice	Greens
	Imogen Draisma	Labor	Deputy Mayor
	Mark Croxford	Your Community Candidates
	Karen Renkema-Lang	S.A.F.E. Kiama
	Neil Reilly	Team Reilly	Mayor
	Matt Brown	We Love Kiama Gerringong Jamberoo	Former state MP for Kiama
	Jodi Keast	Greens
	Stuart Larkins	Labor
	Warren Steel	Independent

2021 election results

See also

• Local government areas of New South Wales