Union election campaigning sees Western Sydney turn red

The growing western suburbs of Sydney were the site of Labor domination on the weekend, with six electorates swinging red— but they had a little help. Here’s how it happened.

Propelled to victory by an aggressive union campaign that pinned the blame for the region’s growing pains on Dominic Perrottet’s head — Sydney’s booming Western Suburbs now have a new sheriff.

An election bloodbath has seen Labor reclaim what was once its heartland — including key seats like Parramatta filled with aspirational voters who previously turned blue.

On polling day an army of nurses and teachers, wearing scrubs and “More than thanks” T-shirts, descended on booths in battleground seats to tell people to “Vote like their life depended on it” — for Labor and the Greens.

“Nurses and midwives are out in force today talking to the community about why voting for ratios is so important. We must fix our broken health system. Vote for ratios,” the NSWNMA posted on social media along with photos of their members posing with Labor MPs and handing out how to vote cards.

The campaign — hitting at the heart of people’s fears about hospital wait lists and slipping education standards — worked, delivering stunning swings in areas like Riverstone which are bearing the brunt of population growth and immigration.

Labor candidate for Parramatta, Donna Davis with NSW Labor leader Chris Minns on the campaign trail. Picture: Jane Dempster.

One Liberal source said the presence of the union allowed even lesser-known Labor candidates to catapult to victory.

“I was at the booths and the pre-poll and there were nurses telling people to put Liberal last. There were a lot of union members on the ground handing out (how to vote cards) and at pre-poll,” the source said.

The presence of union-backed teachers and nurses is thought to have contributed to Labor’s victory at the polls. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

“The unions were vicious.”

The loss of Western Sydney is also being pinned by Liberals on government fatigue — with sources saying voters simply wanted change even when offered an ambitious infrastructure and cost of living agenda targeted at the region.

“Most of all, people just wanted a change. People say governments get voted out, not voted in and I think that is what has happened,” they said.

People thought we had been there for too long after 12 years.”

Chris Minns and his leadership group in his Kogarah dining room on Sunday after Labor's election victory.

But Labor sources believe their small-target agenda — which was often criticised against the Perrottet government’s ambitious policies — resonated with voters looking to resolve local issues.

While Mr Perrottet championed a statewide children’s savings fund and a universal extra year of schooling — Labor won over votes by promising schools and hospital upgrades in Sydney’s southwest and northwest growth corridors.

“From my own area, we’ve been pushing to rebuild Canterbury Hospital where you have people from Southwest Sydney and Inner South west, a lot of older people were having to travel outside their area for dialysis,” Canterbury MP Sophie Cotsis said.

“People saw that and they saw a lack of services … state governments are about services, it’s about school, it’s about health, it’s about roads.”

Ms Cotsis said the election results proved that politics is really as local as the issue voters see every day.

“We had a great agenda where we listened to the community.”