Wollongong council election, 2024

The City of Wollongong covers the bulk of the Wollongong urban area, stretching along the coast from Lake Illawarra in the south to Helensburgh in the north.

The council covers the Wollongong city centre and the suburbs of Stanwell Park, Coalcliff, Maddens Plains, Clifton, Scarborough, Wombarra, Coledale, Austinmer, Thirroul, Bulli, Woonona, Russell Vale, Bellambi, Corrimal, Fairy Meadow, Keiraville, Unanderra, Spring Hill, Berkeley, Warrawong, Port Kembla, Primbee, Windang, Dapto, Koonwarra, Penrose and Yallah.

The council has a population of about 216,000 as of 2022.

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

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

Ward 1 covers the northernmost parts of Wollongong, including Fairy Meadow, Corrimal, Woonona, Thirroul, Austinmer, Bulli, Wombarra, Coalcliff, Stanwell Park, Otford and Helensburgh.

Ward 2 covers the Wollongong city centre and the neighbouring suburbs of Keiraville, Mount Kembla, Gwynneville, Farmborough Heights, North Wollongong and West Wollongong.

Ward 3 covers those suburbs surrounding Lake Illawarra, including Port Kembla, Warrawong, Berkeley, Kembla Grange, Primbee, Wandang, Kanahooka, Koonawarra, Brownsville, Dapto, Cleveland, Penrose and Yallah.

Incumbent mayor
Gordon Bradbery (Independent)

Incumbent councillors

History
The first municipal council covering Wollongong was created in 1859. A Central Illawarra council was created the same year, and then a North Illawarra council was founded in 1868. These councils were joined by Bulli Shire in 1906.

These four councils merged to form Greater Wollongong in 1946.

The longest-serving Lord Mayor of Wollongong was Frank Arkell, who held office from 1974 until 1991. Arkell served as the independent state MP representing Wollongong from 1984 until 1991.

Arkell was succeeded in 1991 by Labor candidate David Campbell. Campbell held the lord mayoralty for two terms, stepping down in 1999 after he won the state seat of Keira. Campbell went on to serve as a minister in the Labor government and retired from state parliament in 2011.

The mayoralty was won in 1999 by Labor’s George Harrison. Harrison served less than one term before he was forced to resign in 2002, in part due to his bankruptcy.

The 2002 by-election was won by independent candidate Alex Darling, who defeated Labor’s Bob Proudfoot.

Darling was re-elected in 2004. At the time, Wollongong used a system of six wards, with each ward electing two councillors. The voting rules of the time meant that the votes used to elect the first councillor could be re-used to elect the second, so most wards elected two members of the same team.

Labor won a clean sweep in three wards, while Dave Martin’s Active Community Team won in two wards. The final ward was split between a Labor councillor and another independent, Anne Wood. Despite Darling beating the Labor mayoral candidate, this gave Labor a majority on the council.

Wollongong City Council was sacked in early 2008 following significant reports of corruption and scandal at the council. The council was put in the hands of unelected administrators until 2011.

The next election for Wollongong (and neighbouring Shellharbour, which had also been sacked) were brought forward to 2011.

This election saw the mayoralty go to prominent local reverend Gordon Bradbery, who stood as an independent. Bradbery defeated Labor and Liberal official mayoral candidates. Bradbery did not run a ticket for the council election, so the major parties dominated that election. Labor and Liberal each won a seat in each ward, and both parties won a second seat in one of the three wards. This gave both major parties four seats on the council. The Greens won two seats, and the remaining two seats went to independents.

Wollongong swung to the left in 2017. The Greens retained two seats, and Gordon Bradbery’s running mate Dom Figliomeni won a seat. Labor won two extra seats for a total of six seats, while the Liberal Party were reduced to three seats. Bradbery was re-elected as lord mayor, but by a much slimmer margin compared to 2011.

Labor holds six out of thirteen seats, giving them a dominant role on the council. Labor’s Dave Brown was elected deputy mayor in 2017 with the support of everyone except the Liberal Party.

The Greens and independents supported either the Liberal Party or the Greens candidate for deputy mayor in 2018, but when the Greens candidate was knocked out they switched to support Labor.

Labor’s Tania Brown was elected deputy mayor in 2019, again defeating Liberal and Greens opponents.

There was no change in the partisan balance at the 2021 election. Labor retained their six seats, alongside three Liberals, two Greens, and Bradbery’s running mate Dom Figliomeni. Bradbery was re-elected by a slim margin despite a swing towards Labor.

Tania Brown continued to hold the deputy mayoralty throughout the current term, defeating Liberal and Greens candidates in January 2022 and September 2023.

Council control
Labor is the strongest force on the council, only requiring one extra vote for a majority. When it has come to deputy lord mayoral elections in the last two terms, they have usually been able to rely on the Greens supporting Labor candidates over Liberal candidates.

Candidate summary

Incumbent mayor Gordon Bradbery is not running for re-election. Nor are sitting councillors Cath Blakey (Greens), Mithra Cox (Greens), Dom Figliomeni (Independent) and Janice Kershaw (Labor). Sitting Liberal councillors John Dorahy, Cameron Walters and Elisha Aitken were planning to run for re-election but were unable to get on the ballot due to a Liberal Party nomination error.

Labor and the Greens are running a full ticket with a mayoral candidate and full groups in each ward.

Independent candidate and former councillor Andrew Anthony is running for mayor and is the only other candidate to have a box above the line, in Ward 2.

Independent candidates Ryan Morris and Susanne De Vive are also running for mayor and as ungrouped candidates in Ward 1, while James Caldwell is running as an ungrouped candidate in Ward 2.

Assessment
Labor’s prospects of a majority would normally come down to who wins the mayoral election.

In recent elections, Labor has consistently won two out of four council seats in each ward, giving them six out of twelve. But the tiebreaker was the mayoral role.

Gordon Bradbery only retained the mayoralty by less than 700 votes in 2021, and is not running this time. Labor should easily gain this seat, giving them a clear majority.

But on top of that, the absence of Liberals and Bradbery’s team may help Labor win more seats. Five of the thirteen councillors have no successor on the ballot.

In Ward 2, Andrew Anthony may well pick up the seat previously held by the Liberals. It’s also possible conservatives could vote below the line for one of the ungrouped independents in Ward 1. But it’s also possible that Labor could win a third seat in either ward, with Greens retaining their one seat.

In Ward 3, the only options are Labor and Greens, so that should result in 3 Labor and 1 Greens. This would be the Greens first win in their worst Wollongong ward.

2021 council election result

2021 mayoral election result

2021 mayoral election two-candidate-preferred result

Vote breakdown by ward
The following tables show the vote in each ward. Unfortunately the mayoral results were not separated by ward, so we can only identify the home ward of ordinary votes.

The Labor Party topped the primary vote in the council election in all three wards, ranging from 34.3% in Ward 2 to 47.5% in Ward 3.

The Liberal primary vote ranged from 19% in Ward 3 to 32.2% in Ward 1, and the Greens vote ranged from 12.5% in Ward 3 to 27.7% in Ward 1.

Gordon Bradbery’s independent ticket in Ward 3 polled 21%, while other independents polled 8.5% in Ward 2.

Bradbery’s primary vote for the mayoral election was higher than any other candidate, and polled best in Ward 3. Labor also did best in Ward 3, while the Greens and Liberal candidates both did better in the northern wards.

Council results by ward

Mayoral results by ward

Election results at the 2021 City of Wollongong election
Toggle between primary votes for Labor, the Liberal Party, the Greens and independent candidates Gordon Bradbery and Louise Meyrick.

Election results at the 2021 City of Wollongong mayoral election
Toggle between primary votes for independent candidate Gordon Bradbery, Labor, the Liberal Party and the Greens.

Candidates – Lord Mayor

• Andrew Anthony (Independent)
• Suzanne De Vive (Independent)
• Jess Whittaker (Greens)
• Ryan Morris (Independent)
• Cr Tania Brown (Labor)

Candidates – Ward 1

• A – Greens
  1. Jess Whittaker
  2. Martin Cubby
  3. Stephen Young
  4. Kathryn Broadfoot
• B – Labor
  1. Cr Richard Martin
  2. Dan Hayes
  3. Karen Fairbairn
  4. Iskra Spencer
• Ungrouped
  • Ryan Morris (Independent)
  • Suzanne De Vive (Independent)

Candidates – Ward 2

• A – Greens
  1. Kit Docker
  2. Harris Cheung
  3. Ali Gerritsen
  4. Theresa Huxtable
• B – Labor
  1. Cr Tania Brown
  2. Cr David Brown
  3. Thomas Quinn
  4. Michael Valceski
• C – Independent
  1. Andrew Anthony
  2. Ryan Worthington
  3. Kenneth Davis
  4. Nerida Anthony
• Ungrouped
  • James Caldwell (Independent)

Candidates – Ward 3

• A – Greens
  1. Deidre Stuart
  2. Jamie Dixon
  3. Elena Martinez
  4. George Takacs
• B – Labor
  1. Cr Ann Martin
  2. Cr Linda Campbell
  3. Tiana Myers
  4. David Haden

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