Greens spruik western Sydney wins, play down Gaza effect in the east

The Greens are celebrating big wins in western Sydney at Saturday’s council elections and playing down mediocre results in the east and inner west, saying it is too soon to analyse the impact of specific issues such as the party’s strong stance on the war in Gaza.

Voters in the city’s west punished Labor, to the benefit of independents and the Greens, in what Premier Chris Minns said was a “massive wake-up call” for the major parties about economic challenges facing many families.

The Greens are set to retain five seats on Inner West Council and are holding out hope for a sixth, but Labor will maintain its majority.Credit: Oscar Colman

“There’s massive pressure on households and families, and in many parts of NSW, as a result, they didn’t vote Labor,” he said on Monday. “When you see a big result like that, even though it’s not our level of government, I hear the message loud and clear.”

In the Cumberland ward of South Granville, where Labor won 65 per cent of the primary vote in a two-horse race in 2021, the party is sitting below 20 per cent and behind community independent Ahmed Ouf, a local pharmacist, who will be elected.

That means Labor councillor Mohamad Hussein, who backed a ban of a same-sex parenting book earlier this year before changing his position, will lose his seat.

Election analyst Ben Raue said he was shocked by the high Greens vote in Blacktown, where the party was netting 15-18 per cent of first preferences in the wards it contested.

The Greens made inroads into western Sydney, where they were poised to win seats on some councils for the first time.Credit: Steven Siewert

In a ward the Greens did not contest, the Animal Justice Party received nearly 18 per cent of first preferences. “If you’re a left-wing voter and you’re pissed at the Labor Party, you end up going to Animal Justice because they’re the alternative,” Raue said.

The Greens also improved their vote in the City of Sydney and are vying with the Liberals for the final seat, having secured one each. Labor is set for two seats, while Clover Moore is likely to lose majority control for the first time in 20 years, reduced to three seats plus the lord mayoralty.

However, the Greens lost ground in Woollahra, Waverley and parts of Randwick, and failed to end Labor’s majority rule of the inner west.

Greens state upper house member Amanda Cohn, the party’s local government spokesperson, said she was “really pleased” with winning two seats in Campbelltown and likely one each in Blacktown and Cumberland.

She said the party achieved its goal of retaining five seats on the Inner West Council despite four incumbents leaving, and might even win a sixth in the Stanmore ward, where Liberal preferences will likely decide the third spot.

But other Greens sources who requested anonymity said the party could have done better in the inner west, while Labor is bullish about gaining a second seat in the Balmain ward.

The Greens are set to lose Nicola Grieve from Woollahra and Kym Chapple from Randwick, and suffered significant swings in Waverley. Randwick Mayor Philipa Veitch will be re-elected despite being targeted for her remarks criticising Israel.

Cohn said it was too early to assess the impact of particular issues, but she did not agree with analysis that said the Greens were rewarded over Gaza in the west and punished in the east. “I just don’t think that’s the narrative,” she said. “To say we did poorly is just not accurate.”

Cohn said the Greens would have more councillors than the 65 they had in 2021, including a likely first seat in Tamworth, and Sarah Ndiaye was in the box seat to become the mayor of Byron Shire.

But the party did badly in the Shoalhaven on the NSW south coast, where directly elected Greens mayor Amanda Findley retired. “It’s been a really tough time to be an incumbent on that council,” Cohn said. “It’s a community looking for change after the difficult times they’ve been through.”

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