NSW local elections – election day open thread

I have a feeling Labor’s vote will drop, specifically Western Sydney. What May be a saving grace for Labor in it’s total Ward Count however is the Libs failing to endorse candidates.

I probably can’t update with too many early results since I’ll be at the AFL in Sydney, but I’ll do my best.

Before anyone asks no I didn’t come to Sydney for the election I came for the footy and to see family.

The libs are running a pretty intense scare campaign in Sydney’s north west over the state government’s announcement of zoning changes around the norwest metro stations, to the extent one could be forgiven for thinking it was their only policy.

That the changes were actually quietly enacted back in 2019 by the then Coalition government when they took planning permission for the areas in question away from councils and that most if not all affected councils oppose the changes would appear beside the point.

The scare campaign will definitely impact the raw ALP vote in the affected councils, although I suspect in the end it will have little or no impact on the results – the ALP has very comfortable margins in Blacktown and is only at risk in one ward. The Hills is very blue ribbon and the most likely impact, if any, would be flipping one or two of the ALP counsellors in the Hills for the Greens, who’s party vote is only a few % lower .. but since the libs currently have 9 of the 12 seats plus the mayor, it makes little difference who is in opposition. In Hornsby it could flip the sole ALP counsellor to the Greens or an independent.

lake mac has only ALP staffing every booth. Libs and LMI are only at largest booths. at dora creek electoral officials took down election material that was attached within the 6 metre exclusion zone

It is telling that the Liberals never have anything to say about overdevelopment until Labor is in government at the state level.

Not a lot of choice on my ballot paper due to the impressive level of incompetence shown by the NSW Liberal Party. Two groups, one Labor and one Green.

@np let’s face it it’d be pretty sad if you were for the local council elections

Np post the footy score updates instead

Having attended the prepoll all week in Edward River it will be a quiet day at the booths … out of a voter base of c.6k, c. 3100 have pre polled and last election saw only c.4500 – the 4 locations today might get a few hundred at the school based ones and less at the hospital.

Can’t be long before it’s voluntary postal…

@Mick Quinlivan I’ll be at the actual game so I’ll be mostly paying attention to that. It’s an important game for Brisbane.

I may still provide some updates but not lots.

I’m rooting for GWS. I tipped port last night and that paid off. Good $ on sportsbet. Hoping to go to the syd port game next week

Is the tally gonna be shown anywhere on tv

@John I’m supporting Brisbane because that’s my team.

@Bill for the local elections? I don’t think so, in fact Antony isn’t even covering them this time (he covered the last two though so it’s odd that he’s skipping this one).

@bill, I’m expecting 6 news to have the best uninterrupted live coverage of the elections. They’re on YouTube though not the “tv”.

I usually hand out how to vote cards but meh with this election. Was tempted to head over to Cumberland to stop Christou getting move votes.

The results are going to be posted here: https://vtr.elections.nsw.gov.au/

The single objective of Voices of North Sydney is to “Promote and facilitate participation in our democracy”.
Despite the efforts of the NSW Electoral Commission, the public generally has a poor understanding of the way preferences are distributed, what is meant by ‘preference deals’ and what is meant by ‘Independent’.
Why is this important? Recent polls show that 47%(1) percent of voters want more independent councillors compared to 24% who say more from parties: and 29% not sure, but how can they tell?
To help voters, in the lead up to the last Local Government Elections in 2021, Voices of North Sydney drafted a ‘Declaration of Independents’ in consultation with the St James Ethics Centre, to highlight groups and individuals who had no party affiliation, either as endorsed candidates or as members of parties.
54 candidates signed the declaration, and found it useful in their campaigns.
This time around 18 #1 candidates reaffirmed or signed the Declaration., and many who had signed previously stood again.
The federal electorate of North Sydney roughly corresponds to the LGAs of Hunters Hill, Lane Cove, North Sydney and Willoughby.
In the election there were 43 registered groups across the 4 LGAs: 4 in Hunters Hill, 10 in Lane Cove, 11 In North Sydney, and 18 in Willoughby and one ungrouped candidate in Willoughby
Of these 8 are ‘Independents’ on the ballot paper but have #1 candidates who are members of a party. This is entirely legal as these candidates have declared membership when registering, but this is not evident to the public on the ballot papers.
This could be seen as a flaw in the system; while candidates must declare membership of a party on the “Candidate Information Sheets” when they register, this information is removed from the web at ‘nomination’ stage and the ‘details’ for each candidate do not show any ‘affiliation’ even when they have declared they are members of a party.
So of the 43 groups, 14 groups are endorsed by the Liberal, Labor, the Greens and the Sustainable Australia Parties, and 8 are led by party members.
In other words less than half of the groups across the 4 LGAs are not associated in some way with parties. This is of concern because the major parties have been quite open about local; government being a ’stepping stone’ to higher levels of government.

Roderick Simpson
Voices of North Sydney

(1) https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/councils-are-our-favourite-government-but-hardly-anyone-wants-more-of-them-20240425-p5fmhu.html

I’ll be at the game as well supporting GWS. Enjoy the game, may the best team win. And also an interesting night for election results.

Results should start to come in soon since it’s now 6:32pm. I’ll be posting some results at half time and after the game.

Looks like Pesce might lose his spot on the council after being dumped from lib pre selection as the current mayor.