Bayside council election, 2024

Bayside Council covers suburbs immediately to the south-west of the Sydney city centre. The council is bounded by Botany Bay to the east, the Georges River to the south and the Cooks River to the north. The council comes in two distinct parts which match the two former councils, and are divided by Sydney Airport and the ports.

The council covers the suburbs of Arncliffe, Banksmeadow, Bexley, Botany, Eastgardens, Mascot, Pagewood, Rockdale and Sans Souci. The council had an estimated population of about 177,945 as of 2022.

• Wards
• Redistribution
• Incumbent councillors
• History
• Council control
• Candidate summary
• Assessment
• 2021 results
• Vote breakdown by ward
• Results maps

Wards
Bayside is divided into five wards, with each ward electing three councillors.

Ward 1 covers the eastern edge of the council, including Botany, Banksmeadow, Pagewood, Eastmeadows and most of Eastlakes.

Ward 2 straddles the centre of the council, covering Turrella, Mascot, Sydney Airport and parts of Arncliffe and Eastlakes.

Ward 3 covers the centre-west of the council, including Bardwell Park, Rockdale and parts of Arncliffe and Kogarah.

Ward 4 covers western parts of the council, including Bexley and Bexley North.

Ward 5 covers those suburbs along the western shoreline of Botany Bay, including Sans Souci, Brighton-le-Sands and parts of Kogarah.

Redistribution
Changes were made to four out of five wards, with a shift of population into wards to their west.

Ward 1 lost part of Eastlakes to Ward 2. Ward 2 then lost part of Arncliffe to Ward 3, and Ward 3 lost part of Kogarah to Ward 5.

Ward 4 was untouched.

Incumbent councillors

History
Bayside Council was created out of a merger of Rockdale and Botany Bay councils in 2016. The 2017 guide covers the previous history of these two councils and how much of the new council came from its predecessors.

Botany Bay had been a Labor stronghold, with the party holding all seats on the council right up until the council was abolished.

Rockdale leant towards the ALP, but they did not win majorities on the council in its final years. Labor held the mayoralty consistently from 2008 until 2016, but only held five out of fifteen seats from 2004 until 2016.

The 2017 election elected seven Labor councillors, five Liberals and three independents to the new council.

Labor has held the mayoralty since 2017. Bill Saravinovski held the role until 2019. Joe Awada then held the role until September 2021, before Saravinovski resumed the role for the final two months prior to the 2021 council elections. Labor’s Christina Curry became mayor in early 2022, and was succeeded by Sarvinovski in September 2023.

The Liberal Party declined to stand candidates in 2021, although two sitting Liberal councillors were re-elected as independents. Labor retained their seven seats, and the Greens won their first seat on the other council. Five other independents won seats: incumbent councillor Liz Barlow was re-elected along with her running mate, and Andrew Tsounis was also re-elected, along with two other new independents.

Council control
The Labor caucus currently holds seven seats on the council, one short of a majority. Labor mayoral candidates won election by 11-4 and 9-6 margins. Generally independent councillors Muscat and Sedrak side with the Labor councillors to give them a solid majority.

Outside of this majority group, there is a diverse group of independent councillors and one Greens councillor, with a range of different political views.

Candidate summary
Sitting Labor councillors Bill Saravinovski and Ann Fardell are retiring, and fellow councillor Jo Jansyn is running for the unwinnable third spot in Ward 1. Sitting independent councillor Paul Sedrak is also not running for re-election.

Labor, Liberal, Greens and Peaceful Bayside are all running in every ward.

In addition, the following independent tickets have a full group:

• Jennifer Muscat (Ward 1)
• Olympia Hollink (Ward 2)
• Andrew Tsounis (Ward 3)
• Sam Habollah (Ward 3)
• Liz Barlow (Ward 4)

Assessment
Labor has a strong position in Bayside Council, but benefited from the absence of the Liberal Party in 2021.

The Liberal Party should be capable of winning a seat in most or all five wards. With Labor winning a seat in each ward, this just leaves the third seat in each ward in play.

Labor’s vote in Ward 1 is very strong and will be a contender for a second seat. Ward 2 is less solid, but the redistribution has solidified Labor’s position.

Then there are independents sitting in the other three wards – Jennifer Muscat, Andrew Tsounis and Liz Barlow in particular.

Peaceful Bayside will also be attempting to win additional seats and are worth watching.

2021 results

Vote breakdown by ward
The following two tables show the vote in each ward before and after the recent redistribution.

The Labor primary vote ranged from under 29% in Ward 5 to over 60% in Ward 1.

The Greens stood candidates in four wards, with a vote ranging from 11% in Ward 1 to 22.7% in Ward 3.

The two independent Liberals polled 18.5% in Ward 2 and 29% in Ward 5.

The vote for other independents ranged from 9.7% in Ward 2 to over 40% in wards 4 and 5.

The independent vote in Ward 4 was entirely for the Liz Barlow/Mark Hanna ticket, which won two seats in that ward.

The independent vote in Ward 5 was more divided between three tickets (not counting the vote for independent Liberal Sedrak). Sitting councillor James Macdonald polled 16% while new candidate Heidi Lee Douglas polled 20%. Macdonald lost, while Douglas was elected.

The redistribution strengthened the Labor vote in Ward 2, and pushed Labor’s primary vote below a quota in Ward 5.

Pre-redistribution vote numbers

Post-redistribution vote numbers

Election results at the 2021 Bayside Council election
Toggle between primary votes for Labor, the Greens, independent Liberal candidates and independent candidates Liz Barlow, Heidi Douglas, Andrew Tsounis, and Jennifer Muscat.

Candidates – Ward 1

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Christina Curry
  2. Cr Scott Morrissey
  3. Cr Jo Jansyn
• B – Greens
  1. Miles Richards
  2. James Macdonald
  3. Jurgen Weber
• C – Independent
  1. Cr Jennifer Muscat
  2. John Muscat
  3. Sarah Monahas
• D – Independent
  1. Vinny Carrabs
  2. Dakhlallah Saleh
  3. Frances Carrabs
• E – Peaceful Bayside
  1. Maria Poulos
  2. Vivian Polyblank
  3. Michele Katzeff
• F – Liberal
  1. Ron Bezic
  2. David D’Amato
  3. Stefanie Boutelet

Candidates – Ward 2

• A – Independent
  1. Olympia Hollink
  2. Glen Ramos
  3. John Araujo
• B – Liberal
  1. Jerome Boutelet
  2. Ali Jaafar
  3. Vera Mickovska
• C – Peaceful Bayside
  1. Carolin Wenzel
  2. David Levinson
  3. Gordon Ivanovski
• D – Labor
  1. Soraya Kassim
  2. Dorothy Rapisardi
  3. Ted Esdaile-Watts
• E – Greens
  1. Peter Strong
  2. Sarah Clunie
  3. Scott Rickard

Candidates – Ward 3

• A – Liberal
  1. Cr Michael Nagi
  2. Todor Mickovski
  3. Keer Xu
• B – Independent
  1. Cr Andrew Tsounis
  2. Anne Field
  3. Trevor Dyet
• C – Peaceful Bayside
  1. Janin Bredehoeft
  2. Virginia Lowe
  3. Catherine Kelly
• D – Greens
  1. Cr Greta Werner
  2. Denise Abou Hamad
  3. Tracy Yuen
• E – Labor
  1. Christopher Saravinovski
  2. Anne Iskandar
  3. Kristian Josifovski
• F – Independent
  1. Sam Hoballah
  2. Dima Istambouli
  3. Ismael Khalil
• Ungrouped
  • Mintu Rozario (Independent)

Candidates – Ward 4

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Joe Awada
  2. Aida Farhat
  3. Yanning Shi
• B – Liberal
  1. Fiona Douskou
  2. Rami Abdallah
  3. Vinko Bezic
• C – Greens
  1. Bashir Sawalha
  2. Stephen Kelly
  3. Elizabeth Gordon-Werner
• D – Independent
  1. Cr Liz Barlow
  2. Cr Mark Hanna
  3. James Macdonald
• E – Peaceful Bayside
  1. Dominic Galvin
  2. Alexander Cooper
  3. Tina Workman

Candidates – Ward 5

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Edward McDougall
  2. Amelia Raptis
  3. Allan Ajami
• B – Greens
  1. Paul Wade
  2. Faikah Behardien
  3. Boyd Burger
• C – Peaceful Bayside
  1. Cr Heidi Lee Douglas
  2. Andrea Jackson
  3. Jennifer Pelizar
• D – Liberal
  1. Vicki Poulos
  2. Nada Abdallah
  3. Ibtissam Jaafar
• Ungrouped
  • Jacky Angelovski (Independent)

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