Labor hit in NSW heartlands amid federal election warning after council results

The Liberals defied their nomination bungles to post strong but patchy results in a development which could ring alarm bells for Labor’s federal campaign.

Labor has copped massive hits at local government level in areas deemed as must-win for the federal election, while heartland suburbs once considered their powerbase also turned their back on the party.

Ryde and Parramatta – which sit within two marginal seats held by Labor federally – gathered strong results for Liberal candidates, despite the party’s dreadful nomination bungle crippling them in other parts of the city.

Other traditionally Labor-voting suburbs – like Fairfield and parts of Cumberland – also had major swings away from the party, as voters turned in the direction of independents.

At Ryde Council, which sits within the ultra-marginal federal seat of Bennelong held by Labor’s Jerome Laxale by just one per cent, the Liberals look set to take majority hold over council for the first time with seven members including the mayor, while Labor will go from five councillors to three.

Bennelong MP Jerome Laxale at West Ryde Public School. Picture: Jeremy Piper

In Parramatta the Liberals roared back as a local political force, with the early voting suggesting the party will win six seats – splitting the council with Labor (likely six) and a handful of progressive independents.

Counting of votes continued until 10pm on Saturday night, with no voting taking place on Sunday.

The final results are expected to be announced in early October.

Elsewhere, Labor’s vote collapsed in parts of Cumberland – going from 60 per cent of the share to just 20 per cent in South Granville ward, in the face of opposition headed by Independent pro-Palestine local pharmacist Ahmed Ouf.

And at Fairfield – once considered Labor heartland – Independent Mayor Frank Carbone and councillor and federal Fowler MP Dai Le are both on track to increase their share of the vote.

Kos Samaras, a director at political consultants Redbridge, said the local council results pointed to a major challenge at the federal election for Labor.

Corey (29) and Jody (25) Curtis give their opinions about why Labor took a hit in the voting in the Parramatta electorate. Photo: Jane Dempster/ Daily Telegraph.

“The Labor brand seems to be struggling across the board … it doesn’t matter whether it’s federal, state or local,” he said.

“It should (ring alarm bells for Labor) – it aligns with our broader analysis with seats like Bennelong, where we predict it’s too close to call … we are seeing a resurgence of the Coalition vote.”

He said results in former Labor strongholds like Cumberland and Fairfield would be hard to turn around before the federal election.

“In Fairfield, Labor have basically become a distant memory … the possibility of Labor coming back into that part of the world is now extremely remote,” he said.

Federal Parramatta MP Andrew Charlton – who holds the seat with a 4.6 per cent margin – watered down concerns over the Liberals’ return to his local council.

“Parramatta has traditionally been a Liberal council – at this election we’re going to have a progressive majority on council … Parramatta Council is going to be a Labor council with the support of progressive independents,” he said, adding he wouldn’t take his seat for granted in the next election.

“Every election is a challenge,” he said.

The Liberals strong if patchy results come despite their massive nomination bungle which led to 140 party candidates not being registered, resulting in the state branch of the party being taken over by the federal division.

Local government areas like the Northern Beaches have had Liberal representatives wiped out as a result of the administrative failure, with four former Liberal councillors unable to contest the 2024 vote and just one Liberal-aligned councillor elected.

NSW Opposition leader Mark Speakman said despite the bungle, “Where the Liberals have fielded candidates, overall we’ve performed strongly, a clear sign that voters are turning away from Labor’s failures”.

Parramatta’s Toufic Darjani (22) didn’t vote for Labor. Photo: Jane Dempster/ Daily Telegraph.

Elsewhere, on the Central Coast former Gosford Mayor and Central Coast Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna is set to return to council.

Former Liberal MP for East Hills Wendy Lindsay, who lost her NSW seat in the 2023 election, is also likely to be voted on to Canterbury-Bankstown Council.

Parramatta couple Jody and Cory Curtis were among those who voted for the Liberals in their local election, saying they felt the party had better plans to tackle local issues.

“It’s hard to be positive about the way things are at the moment, we feel that the Liberals for our council just have a better plan for targeting that,” he said.

Parramatta local and construction manager Toufic Darjani also said he felt the Liberals’ were more financially conservative.

“I think we need to just focus on ourselves for a few more years and then we can start giving away, we need to figure out our own problems before turning outwards,” he said.