Liberals win seat, say ALP should not have run following election of councillor Jacob Jackson
THE Liberal Party has won another seat on The Hills Shire Council, following the by-election on Saturday.
Hills Shire
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THE Liberal Party has won another seat on The Hills Shire Council, following the by-election on Saturday.
Jacob Jackson, 34, won the vacant seat with a seven per cent swing towards the Liberal Party, following the resignation of former Labor councillor Raymond Harty after his conviction on fraud charges.
Cr Jackson beat Labor Party candidate Immanuel Selvar in his second bid for a place on the council.
Cr Jackson said he was determined to fulfil the commitments he made to residents during the by-election campaign.
“Residents have set a clear expectation of what they want me to accomplish for them as councillor and I want to make sure these expectations become a reality,” Cr Jackson said.
“I want to ensure responsible development takes place and that there is positive infrastructure to match.”
Cr Jackson said the outcome was a “fantastic result” that demonstrated other Liberal councillors were getting the job done in The Hills.
Liberal councillor Frank De Masi said the by-election should not have happened, blasting the Australian Labor Party for putting a candidate forward.
“This was a waste of money and it could have been better served spent on footpaths, our parks and roads,” Cr De Masi said.
“The ALP know too well that they didn’t have the numbers to retain their ALP position in West Ward and chose to run a candidate, costing the residents of The Hills Shire the cost of the by-election.”
Cr De Masi said he was outraged ratepayers would foot the bill for the by-election, estimated to be more than $200,000.
In May, Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton announced reforms that could have prevented the by-election from occurring.
Ms Upton revealed “new” regulations — actually approved in August, 2016 — would see by-elections scrapped if a councillor resigned within 18 months of being elected and a countback process occur.
Almost 15,000 West Ward residents went to the polls on Saturday to cast their votes.