The City of Penrith covers suburbs in outer western Sydney, including Penrith, St Marys, Werrington, Claremont Meadows, Kingswood, Erskine Park, Jamisontown, Glenmore Park, Leonay and Londonderry.
The council has a population of approximately 221,000 people, as of 2022.
- Wards
- Redistribution
- Incumbent councillors
- History
- Council control
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2021 results
- Vote breakdown by ward
- Results maps
Wards
Penrith is divided up into three wards, with each ward electing five councillors.
East ward covers Kingswood, St Marys, Orchard Hills, Claremont Meadows, St Clair, Erskine Park and Kemps Creek.
North ward covers parts of the Penrith CBD and Emu Plains, along with Emu Heights, Cambridge Park, Cambridge Gardens, Werrington, Llandilo, Cranebrook, Berkshire Park and Londonderry.
South ward covers southern parts of the Penrith CBD, as well as Leonay, Jamisontown, Glenmore Park, South Penrith, Orchard Hills, Mulgoa and Wallacia.
| East Ward | North Ward | South Ward |
| Bernard Bratusa (Liberal) | Kevin Crameri (Ind) | Vacant (Independent)1 |
| Todd Carney (Labor) | Ross Fowler (Liberal) | Mark Davies (Liberal) |
| Robin Cook (Labor) | Glenn Gardiner (Ind)4 | Sue Day (Independent) |
| Tricia Hitchen (Liberal) | Jonathan Pullen (Ind)2 | Karen McKeown (Labor) |
| Marlene Shipley (Liberal) 3 | John Thain (Labor) | Mark Rusev (Liberal) |
1Jim Aitken resigned from council in July 2023.
2Pullen resigned from Labor in June 2022.
3Shipley was elected as an independent in 2021 but was planning to run as a Liberal in 2024.
4Gardiner was elected as a Liberal in 2021 but is running as an independent in 2024.
History
Penrith has traditionally been one of the more marginal councils in Western Sydney. While Labor has usually held the mayoralty, Labor’s time in office has been regularly interrupted by Liberals and independents. For the last decade, the mayoralty has been shared between Liberal and Labor.
Labor dominated the council from 1991 until 1995, and the 1995-1999 council was mostly ruled by Liberals and independents. Labor did better in the 1999-2004 council.
The 2004 election saw Labor win seven seats, the Liberal Party four, and four other seats were held by independents. The council was governed by an alliance of Labor and independent councillor Jackie Greenow, with Greenow serving as mayor for a year and Labor councillors serving for the remaining three and a half years.
Labor and Liberal drew even in 2008, with each party winning six seats, and the last three seats were won by independent councillors Greenow, Crameri and Aitken.
The council was governed from 2008 to 2012 by an alliance of the Liberal Party’s six councillors, along with independents Jim Aitken and Kevin Crameri. Aitken and Crameri each served as mayor for a year, followed by two years by Greg Davies.
The Liberal Party was split into two factions, and in 2012 the state party decided to not endorse candidates for Penrith council. Independent tickets ran, with at least two groups including Liberals running in each ward. Despite the division, the Liberal Party maintained their six seats. The three independents were re-elected, along with four Labor councillors. The last two seats, previously held by Labor, were won by candidates running for the Greens and the far-right Australia First party.
The existing alliance of the Liberal Party, Aitken and Crameri was renewed in 2012, with Liberal Party councillors Mark Davies and Ross Fowler each serving a year. The Liberal councillors had agreed to hand over the mayoralty in 2014, with the two independents each serving a year.
Instead the alliance was broken. Five of the six Liberal councillors sided with the four Labor councillors. Ross Fowler was elected mayor for a second term, and in 2015 Labor councillor Karen McKeown became the first Labor mayor in seven years.
Labor did well in 2016, winning seven seats, along with five Liberals and three independents.
Labor and Liberal have shared the mayoralty since 2016. Labor’s John Thain held the job from 2016 to 2018, followed by Liberal Ross Fowler, and then in 2020 Labor’s Karen McKeown. Each party would take the deputy mayoralty when they did not hold the mayoralty.
These results were unopposed in the first year but have generally faced taken opposition from two or three of the independents at leadership elections since 2017.
The Liberal Party improved their performance at the 2021 election, winning a sixth seat. Labor lost two seats, dropping from seven to five. Two new independents were elected along with two incumbents. Sitting independent Marcus Cornish lost his seat.
The previous arrangements largely continued. Liberal councillor Tricia Hitchen was elected mayor and Labor councillor John Thain was elected deputy mayor in January 2022. The independents put up no opposition at the first election, but in September 2022 Labor councillor Todd Carney won the deputy mayoralty by a 10-3 margin over independent Crameri.
Kevin Crameri challenged the Labor-Liberal alliance for both the mayoralty and deputy mayoralty in September 2023, losing both by an 11-2 margin. Labor’s Carney won the mayoralty and Liberal councillor Mark Davies won the deputy mayoralty.
Council control
The council has been controlled by an alliance of Liberal and Labor since the last election (and indeed since the previous election in 2016). This alliance has a large majority – indeed you could describe it as a super-majority. This group held eleven seats at the last election and now hold ten seats.
Candidate summary
Sitting councillors Jim Aitken (Independent), Tricia Hitchen (Liberal), Karen McKeown (Labor) and Jonathan Pullen (Independent) are not running for re-election. Sitting Liberal councillors Bernard Bratusa, Mark Davies, Mark Rusev and Marlene Shipley are not running, seemingly because of a Liberal nomination error.
Labor is the only party running in every ward. Indeed they are the only candidates in the East Ward, and thus the election result was uncontested and the five Labor candidates have already been elected.
There is a full field in the North Ward, with Liberal and Greens options, along with ex-Liberal independent Glenn Gardiner and another independent Amanda Carswell.
The field is limited in the South Ward, with Labor, the Libertarian Party and independent councillor Sue Day.
Assessment
With Labor already winning five seats uncontested in East Ward, it’s hard to see them not winning a majority on the council.
In the South Ward, in the absence of the Liberal Party, Labor could well gain a third seat. Independent Sue Day should easily win, and could well elect her running mate. The Libertarian Party could also be a contender.
The ballot in the North Ward is more conventional. Labor and Liberal should each win 1-2 seats, with independent Gardiner also likely to win.
This would leave Labor on at least eight seats, and possibly as many as ten seats, with the Liberals reduced to 1-2 seats along with another ex-Liberal independent.
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won |
| Labor | 36,388 | 34.48 | -6.2 | 5 |
| Liberal | 35,080 | 33.24 | +2.8 | 6 |
| Independents | 31,545 | 29.89 | +11.5 | 4 |
| Australia First | 2,535 | 2.40 | +2.4 | |
| Informal | 10,403 | 8.97 |
Vote breakdown by ward
The following table shows the vote in each ward.
The Labor primary vote ranged from 30.1% in the South Ward, to 39.9% in the East Ward. The Liberal primary vote ranged from 31.5% in the East Ward to 34.9% in the South Ward. The combined vote for independents ranged from 20.9% in the East Ward to 35% in the South Ward.
| Ward | ALP % | LIB % | IND % |
| East Ward | 39.9 | 31.5 | 20.9 |
| North Ward | 33.9 | 33.1 | 33.0 |
| South Ward | 30.1 | 34.9 | 35.0 |
Election results at the 2021 City of Penrith election
Toggle between primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party and independent candidates Sue Day, Kevin Crameri, Jim Aitken and Marcus Cornish.
Candidates – East Ward (uncontested)
- Labor
- Cr Todd Carney
- Garion Thain
- Sarbjeet Kaur
- Edwin Mifsud
- Libby Austin
Candidates – North Ward
- A – Labor
- Cr John Thain
- Cr Robin Cook
- Kyra Quinlivan
- Bradley Hulls
- Laine Fox
- B – Independent
- Amanda Cardwell
- Geetha Rajagopalan
- Josie Monteleone
- Elizabeth Curtis
- Ross Cardwell
- C – Independent
- Cr Glenn Gardiner
- Cr Kevin Crameri
- Damian Griggs
- Varun Thakkar
- Barbara Murphy
- D – Liberal
- Cr Ross Fowler
- Reece Nuttall
- Dennis Golding
- Enid Golding
- Julie Fletcher
- E – Greens
- Shafaq Jaffery
- Nick Best
- Jacquie Wilson
- David Maurice
- Zeeshan Abdul
Candidates – South Ward
- A – Independent
- Cr Susan Day
- Faithe Skinner
- Rebecca Carroll
- Jo-Anne Topp
- Neal Bates
- B – Libertarian
- Vanessa Pollak
- Roxanne Vines
- Vanessa Pericich
- Lain Vincent
- Jason Fraser
- C – Labor
- Hollie McLean
- Kirstie Boerst
- Lorraine Fordham
- Mohinder Singh
- Mitchell Hearne
Despite the last state election resulting in Labor narrowly gaining Penrith from the Liberals (unseating prominent Cabinet minister Stuart Ayres), I think the Liberals will probably hold on here, maybe with a tiny swing against them.
East Ward is an uncontested election following the lack of Liberal nominations. All 5 ALP candidates will be elected there. No Libs in South Ward either. Strong chance ALP falls over the line with proportions and controls Council.
Five Labor candidates elected unopposed in East Ward, one of the more dramatic outcomes of the Liberals’ failure to nominate.
@Dryhad even Mark Speakman said the council nomination fiasco is one of the worst in history. He’s called for party director Richard Shields to resign. And he’s right: he should resign. First it was last-minute nominations in seats at the 2023 state election and now this? The Liberals were set to win the Gosford East ward on the Central Coast until they failed to nominate candidates in the blue-ribbon that includes suburbs like Terrigal and Erina.