Campaigners report that unaffordable housing, planning, the environment and Israel’s war in Gaza were concerns for voters in local government elections, for which the final results will only be known from October 1–3.
The Liberal Party’s failure to file paperwork in time for more than 50 winnable seats would have benefited Labor candidates and, in some councils, the more right-wing Libertarian Party (formerly the Liberal Democrat Party).
Backed by the conservative anti-environment Advance Australia, the Libertarian Party ran more candidates than any other party apart from Labor, Liberal and the Greens. It won councillors in Camden, Penrith, Canterbury-Bankstown and the MidCoast. In Gloucester, it became the largest council grouping.
Its campaign platform included: getting “woke BS out of council”; tearing down the “surveillance state”; supporting “private property rights”; privatising council-run businesses; and ending “waste”, such as bike lanes.
John Ruddick, NSW’s sole Libertarian MP, told The Guardian on September 15 the party’s strong showing would set it up for a run at both houses in the federal and state elections.
But the Liberals did nominate in some areas; it won a majority in Ryde Council as well as the mayoral position and won in every Parramatta Council ward.
Liverpool’s Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun, who has been outspoken about supporting Palestine, was re-elected.
Labor won back the mayoralty in Wollongong, after independent Gordon Bradbury retired. But it lost the mayoral position in Newcastle, after Ross Kerridge, a former Labor member, challenged with the progressive team “Our Newcastle”.
Kerridge ran on a platform of “getting back to basics”, such as real community consultation and collaboration.
Labor suffered a 10% swing in Canterbury-Bankstown. It faced some backlash in Cumberland’s wards with large Muslim-Australian populations. In Penrith, it gained East Ward by default, due to the Liberals’ failure to register.
In the South Granville ward of Cumberland Council, Independent pro-Palestine pharmacist Ahmed Ibrahim Ouf looks likely to win a position.
Premier Chris Minns told the Sydney Morning Herald on September 19 that the preliminary election results were a “massive wake-up call” about “economic challenges”. A senior anonymous Labor strategist told the SMH on September 15 that Labor has been sent “a clear message on the Middle East but also more broadly”. “There is no doubt that Gaza played a big part in our results in south-western Sydney,” they said.
Another Labor campaigner said the election was a litmus test on whether voters would punish federal Labor. “It is pretty clear that we took a hit on Gaza, but there would be other factors like cost of living … On the booths, there was an anti-Albo sentiment.”
Greens set to gain
The NSW Greens won 65 councillors in 2021 and look set to gain more this time. According to spokesperson Amanda Cohn, the party ran its biggest-ever campaign, with 376 candidates in 61 contests.
The Greens won an additional seat in Newcastle and Wollongong, going from two to at least three councillors.
They are hoping to win their first position in Cumberland, Blacktown and Ryde. They are also hoping for a second position in the City of Sydney (and a sixth in the Inner West). The Greens did better in Bayside, Campbelltown, and possibly Parramatta. They received positive swings in Canterbury-Bankstown.
However, they lost a spot in Woollahra and Randwick councils and suffered a swing in Waverley, with one of two positions still in the balance.
Philipa Veitch, former Greens mayor of Randwick, will be re-elected, along with two other Greens. She has faced significant pressure from Zionist lobby groups for her pro-Palestine position and recently survived a Liberal no-confidence motion, when Labor refused to back it.
It is possible the Labor-Liberal-Zionist campaign to put the Greens last, via the third-party registered group Better Councils Inc, had some impact in the east and Inner West Council, although that is hard to quantify.
Socialists
Socialist Alliance (SA) ran in the City of Sydney and City of Newcastle, focusing on council-initiated and public housing, community democracy and cutting ties with apartheid Israel. The party also supported the We Vote for Palestine campaign.
SA mayoral candidate for Newcastle Steve O’Brien received 2.6% and the SA ticket for Ward 1 received 3%. O’Brien said Kerridge’s election as mayor “bodes well for the community”.
SA’s Rachel Evans secured almost 900 votes for Mayor (1.02%) in the City of Sydney and the first-time councillor ticket won 871 votes (at the time of writing).
The Battler, a community ticket led by Tony Oldfield of the Communist Party of Australia, won 1134 votes in Regents Park Ward in Cumberland. Oldfield was a former councillor in Auburn.
Independents
Long-time Independent City of Sydney Mayor Clover Moore recorded a 6% negative swing, although she was re-elected. Her team lost its majority control of the council. Labor looks like winning a second position. First Nations independent candidate Yvonne Weldon retained her position, and the Greens hope to gain another with the Liberals losing one.
Progressive independents Peaceful Bayside were re-elected. Other independents, including Georges River Residents and Ratepayers, based in Kogarah and Hurstville, look likely to increase their representation.
Residents First Woollahra (RFW) Independents also look to be re-elected. RFW campaigned against reducing the number of councillors in a council referendum, initiated by the Liberals, which narrowly lost.
Inner-West Independent councillor John Stamolis failed to rewin his position in Baludarri/Balmain against a Liberal, whereas former independent Victor Macri, who failed to win in 2021, is predicted to pick up a position in Midjuburi/Marrickville, where the Liberals did not nominate a candidate.
During the campaign, the third-party campaign group “We Vote for Palestine” collected 180 candidate pledges, including from Canterbury-Bankstown’s Labor mayor Bilal El-Hayek and Randwick Green mayor Veitch.
We Vote for Palestine lodged complaints with the NSW Electoral Commission and the City of Sydney about the alleged removal of their signage by City of Sydney contractors. The NSW Council of Civil Liberties also lodged a complaint.