Randwick council election, 2024

Randwick council covers south-eastern parts of Sydney, stretching along the Pacific ocean coast from Clovelly to Botany Bay. The council also covers the suburbs of Kensington, Randwick, Coogee, Maroubra, Matraville, Malabar, Chifley, Little Bay, Phillip Bay and La Perouse.

The council includes a population of about 136,000 as of 2022.

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

Wards
The City of Randwick is divided into five wards, with each ward electing three councillors.

Central ward covers Maroubra. East ward covers Coogee, South Coogee and the remainder of Randwick. North ward covers Centennial Park and Clovelly.

South ward covers Malabar, Matraville, Chifley, Little Bay, Phillip Bay and La Perouse. West ward covers Kingsford, Kensington and part of Randwick.

Incumbent councillors

History
Randwick Council traditionally was dominated by Labor, but there was a period of power being shared between the three big parties from 2004 to 2017. Since 2017 there has been a solid Labor-Greens majority.

Labor’s Dominic Sullivan served as mayor from 1998 until the 2004 council election.

Labor lost its majority in 2004. The new council included seven Labor councillors, five Liberal councillors and three Greens councillors.

After that election, the Greens proposed that the three parties share the mayoralty in proportion to their numbers, with each party taking a turn in the big chair. This was rejected by Labor, with the Liberal Party supporting Murray Matson of the Greens to serve as mayor from 2004 to 2005.

For the remainder of this term, it appears that Labor and Liberal councillors shared the mayoralty thanks to the Greens alternating their votes. They supported the Liberal Party’s Ted Seng in 2005, Labor’s Paul Tracey in 2006 and the Liberal Party’s Bruce Notley-Smith in 2007.

Labor lost even more ground in 2008. Labor and Liberal each won five seats each, alongside three Greens. The two other seats went to the No Parking Meters Party and independent Anthony Andrews, a former Labor councillor.

The Liberal Party’s Bruce Notley-Smith held the mayoralty for a second term until 2009. That year Labor councillor John Procopiadis won the mayoralty with Liberal and independent support, and was promptly expelled from his party.

The Greens’ Matson returned to the mayoralty in 2010, followed by Liberal councillor Scott Nash in 2011. Throughout the 2008-2012 term the Labor-preferred candidate never won the mayoralty, with Liberals, Greens and independents leading the council.

Both major parties gained ground in 2012 at the expense of minor parties. Labor and Liberal each won six seats, alongside two Greens and independent Anthony Andrews.

The Greens remained in the balance of power, and they unilaterally decided to alternate support between the major parties without any agreement.

With Greens support, the mayoralty went to Labor’s Tony Bowen in 2012, then Liberal Scott Nash in 2013, then Liberal Ted Seng in 2014, then Labor’s Noel D’Souza in 2015 and 2016.

Labor lost their sixth seat in 2017, with the Greens regaining their third seat. The Liberal Party lost two of their six seats, with three independents winning seats. Independents did particularly well in the South ward, with former Labor mayor Noel D’Souza’s independent team winning two seats.

An alliance of Labor and the Greens monopolised leadership roles on the council in the 2017-21 term. The Greens’ Lindsay Shurey won the mayoralty in 2017, followed by Labor’s Kathy Neilson in 2018 and Danny Said in 2019.

The 2021 election was a bad one for the independents. Anthony Andrews lost his seat. D’Souza was re-elected, but his running mate Carlos Da Rocha lost his seat. The Liberal Party gained a fifth seat, while the Greens also gained a fourth seat (the most the Greens have ever won in Randwick).

The Labor-Greens alliance continued into the new term. Labor’s Dylan Parker held the mayoralty from 2021 until 2023, with the Greens’ Kym Chapple and Rafaele Pandolfini as deputy. In 2023 the roles swapped, with the Greens’ Philippa Veitch taking over the top job joined by Labor’s Alexandra Luxford as deputy. Every leadership election in the term saw a 9-6 or 9-5 split with all Labor and Greens councillors opposed by the remainder of the chamber.

Council control
Labor and Greens share the leadership roles. Between the two parties they hold nine out of fifteen seats.

Candidate summary
Councillors Joanne McCafferty (Liberal), Michael Olive (Greens), Rafaele Pandolfini (Greens) and Kathy Neilson (Labor) are not running for re-election.

The Labor, Liberal and Greens parties are all running for every ward.

Independent councillor Noel D’Souza is running for re-election in the South Ward, with former councillor Carlos Da Rocha standing as his running mate.

Assessment
Labor and the Greens have had a fairly stable power-sharing arrangement for the last two terms, but that may not always be the case. Since at least 2004, there has always been a Labor-Greens majority, but prior to the 2017 election, there was a lot more difficulty in the relationship and the mayoralty was usually shared around between Labor, Greens and Liberal too. So it is possible that Labor could find another ally or the Greens could seek out another arrangement if the numbers change.

2021 results

Vote breakdown by ward
The following table shows the vote in each ward.

Labor topped the primary vote, with a vote ranging from 27.8% in the West Ward to 36.1% in the Central Ward.

The Liberal primary vote ranged from 18.8% in the South Ward to 32.4% in the North Ward. They topped the poll in just one ward.

The Greens vote ranged from 12.1% in the South Ward to 28.9% in the North Ward.

The vote for independents ranged dramatically. Incumbent councillor Anthony Andrews fell short with over 19% in the Central Ward, while the D’Souza ticket polled 39% in the South Ward.

Election results at the 2021 City of Randwick election
Toggle between primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party, the Greens, Our Local Community and independent candidates Noel D’Souza and Anthony Andrews.

Candidates – Central Ward

• A – Greens
  1. Cr Kym Chapple
  2. Jonathon Beves
  3. James Mollison
• B – Liberal
  1. Cr Daniel Rosenfeld
  2. Anna Fernando
  3. David Arnfield
• C – Labor
  1. Cr Dylan Parker
  2. Dexter Gordon
  3. Tanna Klevansky

Candidates – East Ward

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Marea Wilson
  2. Patrick Cunningham
  3. Katherine Summers
• B – Liberal
  1. Carolyn Martin
  2. Lisa Belcher
  3. James Giltinan
• C – Greens
  1. Masoomeh Asgari
  2. Wendy Smith
  3. Michael Atherton

Candidates – North Ward

• A – Labor
  1. Aaron Magner
  2. Madeleine Treacy-Maclean
  3. Louise Griffin
• B – Greens
  1. Clare Willington
  2. Maureen Fitzgerald
  3. Stuart Davis
• C – Liberal
  1. Cr Christie Hamilton
  2. Katharine Beaumont
  3. Jason Young

Candidates – South Ward

• A – Liberal
  1. Cr Bill Burst
  2. Yuen Lee
  3. David Morgan
• B – Independent
  1. Cr Noel D’Souza
  2. Carlos Da Rocha
  3. Annick Antoine
• C – Greens
  1. Russell Weston
  2. Daniel Keogh
  3. Jennifer Onyx
• D – Labor
  1. Cr Danny Said
  2. Susan Hutchison
  3. Katelyn Shore

Candidates – West Ward

• A – Labor
  1. Cr Alexandra Luxford
  2. Ivan Bull
  3. Yanni Luxford
• B – Liberal
  1. Cr Andrew Hay
  2. Grace Tan
  3. David Smallbone
• C – Greens
  1. Cr Philipa Veitch
  2. Jennifer Jenkins-Flint
  3. Simeon Bryan

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