Northern Beaches council covers the north-eastern corner of Sydney, including suburbs along the coast from Manly to Palm Beach. The council covers the entire Manly peninsula, and is bounded at its northern end by Broken Bay.
The council covers the suburbs of Avalon Beach, Bayview, Newport, Mona Vale, Warriewood, Terrey Hills, Ingleside, Elanora Heights, Collaroy, Narrabeen, Belrose, Frenchs Forest, Beacon Hill, Dee Why, Cromer, Brookvale, Curl Curl, Freshwater, Manly Vale, Balgowlah, Seaforth, Fairlight and Manly.
The council has a population of about 273,000 as of 2019.
- Wards
- Incumbent councillors
- History
- Candidate summary
- Assessment
- 2017 results
- Vote breakdown by ward
- Results maps
Wards
Northern Beaches is divided into five wards, with each ward electing three councillors.
Curl Curl ward covers south-central parts of the council, including Dee Why, Curl Curl, North Manly and Brookvale.
Frenchs Forest ward covers inland parts of the council, including Allambie Heights, Davidson, Frenchs Forest, Belrose, Killarney Heights and Forestville.
Manly ward covers the southern end of the council, including Balgowlah, Fairlight, Manly, Manly Vale and Seaforth. The former Manly council is entirely contained in the new Manly ward.
Narrabeen ward covers north-central parts of the council, including Collaroy, Narrabeen, Ingleside and Elanore Heights.
Pittwater ward covers the northern end of the council, including Terrey Hills, Mona Vale, Bayview, Newport, Bilgola, Avalon Beach, Whale Beach and Palm Beach.
| Curl Curl | Michael Regan (YNB) | David Walton (Liberal) | Natalie Warren (Grn) |
| Frenchs Forest | Roslyn Harrison (YNB) | Penny Philpott (YNB) | Stuart Sprott (Lib) |
| Manly | Candy Bingham (Good For Manly) | Pat Daley (Liberal) | Sarah Grattan (Your Northern Beaches) |
| Narrabeen | Rory Amon (Liberal) | Vincent De Luca (Ind) | Sue Heins (YNB) |
| Pittwater | Kylie Ferguson (Lib) | Alex McTaggart (Ind) | Ian White (YNB) |
History
Northern Beaches Council was created out of a merger of Manly, Pittwater and Warringah councils in 2016. The 2017 guide covers the previous history of these councils and how much of the new council came from its predecessors.
Manly Council had been mainly a battle between the Liberal Party and the Manly Independents party since former state MP Peter Macdonald won the mayoralty in 2004. The Liberal Party regained the mayoralty in 2008, and won a majority on the council in 2012.
Warringah Council was not contested by Labor or Liberal, but rather was a contest between various local groups. The council was sacked in 2003 and did not face election again until 2008.
The Wake Up Warringah team won three out of nine council seats in 2008, and their leader Michael Regan won the mayoralty.
Regan led a new Your Warringah ticket in 2012, winning five out of nine council seats along with an easy victory for the mayoralty.
Pittwater Council was dominated by independents, without much evidence of independents forming tickets across multiple wards.
The three councils were amalgamated to form the Northern Beaches Council in 2016.
Michael Regan formed a new Your Northern Beaches ticket, while the Liberal Party also decided to run for the new council (which was their first intervention north of Manly).
These two parties each won about the same vote – 31% for the Liberal Party and 29.6% for YNB. YNB won six seats while the Liberals won five.
The Greens also won a seat along with three independents: former Manly councillor Candy Bingham, former Pittwater councillor Alex McTaggart and former Warringah councillor Vincent De Luca.
Michael Regan was elected mayor following the 2017 election and has held the office ever since. There has been a stable majority, featuring the YNB bloc and Candy Bingham. Regan, Bingham or one of Regan’s allies has won every leadership vote. Meanwhile the Liberal Party or Alex McTaggart has unsuccessfully contested every leadership vote during this term. It appear that the Greens’ Natalie Warren votes with YNB and Vincent De Luca votes with the Liberals, for a stable 8-7 split on the council.
Candidate summary
Three parties are running a full ticket across the council: Your Northern Beaches, the Liberal Party and the Greens.
Three out of six Your Northern Beaches incumbent councillors are running at the top of their ward ticket. Two others have dropped down to the bottom unwinnable position on the ticket. Northern Beaches mayor Michael Regan has shifted from Curl Curl ward to Frenchs Forest ward, while fellow YNB councillor Sue Heins has moved from Narrabeen to Curl Curl.
Three out of five Liberal councillors are running for re-election, while the sole Greens councillor is retiring.
All three independents (Candy Bingham, Alex McTaggart and Vincent De Luca) are running for re-election, and there are two other independent groups.
Assessment
The Northern Beaches are a conservative area, dominated by the Liberal Party at a state and federal level. Labor and the Greens are not major factors on the council, but the party system has evolved an opponent for the Liberal Party who are currently in government.
A single seat flipping from YNB to the Liberal Party may be enough to disrupt the balance of power, with two conservative independents sitting in opposition to Regan’s team.
| Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats won |
| Liberal | 42,651 | 30.96 | +23.2 | 5 |
| Your Northern Beaches | 40,828 | 29.64 | +1.9 | 6 |
| Other independents | 21,963 | 15.94 | +15.9 | 2 |
| Labor | 12,654 | 9.19 | +7.9 | |
| Greens | 11,617 | 8.43 | -3.4 | 1 |
| Good For Manly | 8,045 | 5.84 | +3.4 | 1 |
| Informal | 6,983 | 4.82 |
The Liberal Party topped the primary vote, but only came first in three wards. Their vote ranged from 25.6% in Curl Curl to 36.7% in Frenchs Forest.
Your Northern Beaches polled slightly less than the Liberal Party, but their vote was very uneven, ranging from 14.8% in Pittwater to 52.3% in Frenchs Forest. They outpolled the Liberal Party in Curl Curl and Frenchs Forest.
Independents (including Good For Manly) polled well in three wards, with 28.8% in Narrabeen (including De Luca), 30.3% in Manly (including Bingham) and 38.3% in Pittwater (including McTaggart).
| Ward | LIB % | YNB % | GRN % | ALP % | IND % |
| Curl Curl | 25.6 | 32.2 | 16.0 | 14.0 | 12.3 |
| Frenchs Forest | 36.7 | 52.3 | 0.0 | 11.0 | 0.0 |
| Manly | 30.4 | 18.6 | 15.2 | 5.7 | 30.3 |
| Narrabeen | 31.8 | 29.1 | 0.0 | 10.3 | 28.8 |
| Pittwater | 30.0 | 14.8 | 11.9 | 5.0 | 38.3 |
Election results at the 2017 Northern Beaches Council election
Toggle between primary votes for the Liberal Party, Your Northern Beaches, independent candidates, Labor and the Greens.
Candidates – Curl Curl
- A – Labor
- Brandt Clifford
- Abby Harris
- Brandon Perrett-Hale
- B – Your Northern Beaches
- Cr Sue Heins
- Louise Hislop
- Ben Grozier
- C – Greens
- Kristyn Glanville
- Jane Easton
- Judy Lambert
- D – Liberal
- Cr David Walton
- Lee Furlong
- Vicky McGahey
Candidates – Frenchs Forest
- A – Liberal
- Cr Stuart Sprott
- David Lovell
- Marcus Middleton
- B – Independent
- Chris Sharpe
- Monica Clonda
- Tricia Sharpe
- C – Your Northern Beaches
- D – Greens
- Chris Burns
- Susan Denham
- Felicity Davis
Candidates – Manly
- A – Liberal
- Georgia Ryburn
- Bill Calcraft
- Isabella Anderson
- B – Your Northern Beaches
- C – Good for Manly
- Cr Candy Bingham
- Scott Porter
- Sonia Walsh
- D – Independent
- John Kelly
- James Brodie
- Maryann Novakovic
- E – Labor
- Sam Pigram
- Carolyn Howells
- Michael Bochner
- F – Greens
- Pamela Dawes
- Cathy Griffin
- Terrance Le Roux
Candidates – Narrabeen
- A – Your Northern Beaches
- B – Greens
- Ethan Hrnjak
- Joanna Burnett
- Amanda Mooy
- C – Labor
- Paula Goodman
- Jared Turkington
- Galileo West
- D – Liberal
- Bianca Crvelin
- Jonathon Flegg
- Sarah Halnan
- E – Independent
- Cr Vincent De Luca
- Robert Giltinan
- Tammy Cook
- Ungrouped
- Gregory Marr (Independent)
- Richard Harris (Independent)
Candidates – Pittwater
- A – Greens
- Miranda Korzy
- India Turner
- Pru Wawn
- B – Your Northern Beaches
- C – Liberal
- Cr Rory Amon
- Karina Page
- Philip Longley
- D – Independent
- Cr Alex McTaggart
- Colleen Uren
- Robert Hopton
- Ungrouped
- James Ricketson (Independent)
iVote and Postals have now come through. All Electorates have Brookvale Public School, Manly Pre-Poll and Declaration Votes to be counted
Curl Curl Ward – Currently only 263 votes seperates Labor and the Greens for the 3rd seat. Still approximately 10k votes to be counted
Frenches Forest Ward (Also missing Forest High School) – Approximately 8k votes left to be counted but unlikely to be any change to the seats from the remain votes.
Manly Ward – 15k votes to be counted but unlikely to change results
Narrabeen Ward – 7k votes to be counted but unlikely to be any change, barring a ridiculous strong preference flow that denies VDL from the 3rd seat. Only one that can reach him is the Greens
Pittwater Ward – 7k votes to be counted and things could get a little interesting, depending on what happens with the preference flow from McTaggart. At this stage, LIB need 33% of the votes from McTaggart to flow through to jump Grn for the last seat.
Well Labor’s Brandt Clifford in Curl Curl ward only missed out to the Green’s Kristyn Glanville by only 158 votes after preferences were distributed this morning. It is almost the identical result that Labor’s Dan Pearce result four years ago when he ran in Curl Curl ward in the 2017 Northern Beaches Council elections.
Not overly surprising but I think this is starting to make that sign even stronger about how weak the Labor Brand is on the Northern Beaches now. IMO, The Greens are the big winner on the Northern Beaches, having tipped over Alex McTaggart.
With that win, YNB will have control of Council with support of the Greens.