NSW Liberal council election blunder: How your council is impacted
A huge administrative blunder has cost the Liberal Party spots on up to 12 NSW councils. Check our interactive map to see what it means for your local government area.
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A huge administrative blunder that has cost the Liberal Party spots on NSW councils and left candidates off the ballot papers has been described as a “slap in the face for democracy”.
The Liberal Party has forfeited as many as 48 council spots and failed to nominate up to 140 candidates due to the election nomination “debacle”.
It is understood the NSW Liberal secretariat failed to properly lodge nominations with the NSW Electoral Commission in as many as 12 local government areas.
Here’s what it means for your council.
Northern Beaches Council
The names of 15 Liberals who put their names forward to win seats on Northern Beaches Council will, at this stage, not appear on the ballot paper for the September 14 poll.
Liberal candidates stripped of the opportunity to run include current senior councillor Dave Walton and deputy mayor Georgia Ryburn.
Councillors Karina Page and Michael Gencher have also been sidelined from the election.
Cr Page, who only joined the council last year to fill a vacancy, said she was left “devastated”.
“I’m devastated for me, my fellow councillors and I’m devastated for the community,” she said.
“It’s a slap in the face for democracy because without the Liberals, voters here will be left with very little choice at the election except for a Greens/Teal/Labor alliance, and a couple of independents. It’s not fair for voters.”
Lane Cove Council
Rory Burke, who has worked as a staffer for Lane Cove Liberal MP Anthony Roberts, had been intending to run in Lane Cove Council’s west ward.
He said his campaign had already begun “kicking into gear” before finding out the “devastating” news.
“I’m gutted because I wanted to do this for my community and for the benefit of Lane Cove,” he said.
Sitting Lane Cove Liberal councillor Katherine Mort has also been impacted after intending to recontest the central ward and said the error will “deny voters the right” to choose their preferred candidates.
Current Liberal mayor Scott Bennison has also been unaffected after he lost a preselection race to Mr Burke. Mr Bennison is now contesting the election as an independent.
Mr Burke said the error could result in the likelihood of centre-left candidates dominating the upcoming election
“I’ve spoken with people who have voted Liberal all their adult lives and they’re saying they now don’t have anyone to vote for,” he said.
“The main options for voters will now be teal, Labor and the Greens.”
North Sydney Council
In North Sydney, Sophie Lambert was intending to run as the Liberal candidate in the St Leonards ward.
Ms Lambert said she had wanted to submit the nomination paperwork herself, but was told by the party’s head office they would take care of the process.
“It’s a gargantuan mess and personally devastating because there had been so much planning involved,” she said.
“It will also throw out the political balance for a lot of local government areas across the state.”
The error has not impacted North Sydney’s Cammerygal ward with Liberal candidate Jess Keen confirming her paperwork had been submitted in time.
Shoalhaven Council
A team of Liberal candidates for a south coast council is “bitterly disappointed” by the party’s catastrophic stuff-up, which has left them unable to run in next month’s election despite having started campaigning.
The affected candidates have found support from locals, one of whom branded the blunder “unf--kingbelievable” online.
Councillor Paul Ell and candidates Serena Copley and Luke Sikora were beginning their campaigns for Shoalhaven Council when the NSW Liberal Party failed to meet NSW Electoral Commission candidacy deadlines on Wednesday.
The gaffe left the three candidates, including mayoral candidate Mr Ell, no longer able to stand for election.
“I am extremely disappointed, particularly for Paul and Serena who didn’t do anything wrong and can no longer run for re-election,” Mr Sikora said.
“The leadership of the NSW Liberals need to be held accountable. I fully endorse Mark Speakman’s call for Richard Shields to resign. The Liberal Party has been pushing to put candidates in council elections for quite some time and he (Shields) has been told for months to bring on additional personnel to help with this task, which he did not do.”
City of Canterbury-Bankstown
The Canterbury-Bankstown local government elections have been thrown into disarray as two of the four Liberal candidates were wiped from the ticket.
Sitting Liberal councillors Charlie Ishac and Charbel Abouraad will miss out on contesting the upcoming local election after the Liberal Party failed to submit their candidate nominations to the NSW Electoral Commission by midday Wednesday.
Mr Abouraad, who was looking at his second term at Canterbury-Bankstown council, said he was “disappointed” numerous local government areas were affected, especially the “residents who wanted to vote Liberal on this occasion won’t be able to”.
“I know it’s upsetting but don’t lose faith in the party,” he said.
“This was an administration error and wasn’t a reflection on councillors … we will band together to make sure this never happens again.”
Mr Abouraad said it was a “good thing” Canterbury-Bankstown still had Liberal representation for the September elections and said he had “full confidence in the party that this won’t happen again”.
Fellow Liberal candidates George Zhakia from the Bankstown ward and Sazeda Akter from the Roselands Ward managed to scrape through and onto the party ticket.
Mr Zahkia, who has served on the Labor majority council since 2021, said he was “sad” for his fellow Liberal candidates and they had now had “no chance” to potentially take control of the Labor dominated council.
Mr Zahkia said he “didn’t have any details” on what was behind the blunder and investigations were underway.
Canterbury-Bankstown council currently has three liberal councillors, one independent and nine from Labor, including mayor Bilal El-Hayek.
Clr Ishac and Clr Akter have been contacted for comment.
Cessnock City Council
A Liberal Party councillor who says he has spent a decade building up the party brand in a dyed-in-the-wool Labor stronghold remains “physically-shaking gutted” over the election nominations debacle.
Paul Dunn was one of four Liberal councillors – along with John Moores, Karen Jackson and Paul Paynter – on City of Cessnock Council who put their paperwork into head office at Easter and were confident of retaining their positions on council. None of them have been nominated
The Liberals attracted more than 21 per cent of the vote in the 2021 local government elections, getting three nominations onto council before independent Paul Paynter joined the party ranks during the tenure.
“I am absolutely floored. I am gutted, physically-shaking gutted by this,” Mr Dunn, who is also the president of Hunter Liberals and Cessnock Liberals, said on Thursday.
“I have spent 10 years building a brand in a little Labor town. We spent half of our waking days doing something for the community and this happens.
“We have a little team, our branch has just ticked over 20 members, and we are probably going to lose all of them now.”
The Liberals were confident of at least holding their four seats on Cessnock council, which has 14 positions including six currently held by Labor.
Maitland City Council
In neighbouring Maitland, Ben Mitchell had been looking at his third term before his nomination failed to be placed.
Like the Liberals at Cessnock, Mr Mitchell had not heard from head office.
“I still have no idea where I stand – I rang headquarters at 3.30pm this afternoon and was told by reception that they had all gone home for the day,” Mr Mitchell said on Wednesday night.
“I have been a councillor since 2017, was one of the youngest in the state when first elected aged 24, was deputy mayor by 26, have been a party member for over 10 years and have volunteered in every local, state and federal election in that time, and I found out what was happening by the media.
“They didn’t even give me the courtesy to tell me themselves.”
Mr Mitchell said some frustrated members had already aired possible legal action against the party – some to get their $1200 nomination fee and thousands of dollars in printing refunded.
He said they had been told not to nominate themselves but to go through head office and they would do it all.
“It doesn’t even appear they have prioritised incumbents over people who haven’t run before,” he said.
“When asked how I was feeling this afternoon, I just said it was a mixture of frustration, anger and a bit of bewilderment.”
The Liberal Party attracted more than 23 per cent of the vote during the 2021, with the four Liberal councillors up against four Labor councillors and five independents.
Fellow Maitland councillor Sally Hailliday, who is one of only two Liberal incumbents currently on Maitland City Council who got her nomination in, said the mistake was devastating and had “cataclysmic” ramifications for local government politics across the stat
“I am so distressed for everybody else who wanted to help their communities,” Ms Hailliday said.
“I put my nomination in the same as everyone else.”
Ms Halliday said the process appeared to be the same in the months leading into the local government election.
“Normally what is done is you get endorsed a few months out from the election.
“But it just appears they have left it too late. They just ran out of time.
“And I can’t tell you why I am lucky enough to get through. I just don’t know.
“What I do know is this will cause a cataclysmic change in how things will be done across the state.
“In my area, we have so many Liberals in the bush who don’t have a home now.
“Where will they go if they need a home, I would say the Nationals or even One Nation.
One Maitland Liberal councillor, Kanchan Ranadive, was retiring after two terms. Another Liberal councillor, Mitchell Griffin, appears to have had his nomination placed in time but without any reference to the party. Mr Griffin has been contacted for comment.
The only Liberal currently on Port Stephens council, Matthew Bailey, had been endorsed to run for the City of Newcastle elections but has been left off the nominations.
Incumbent Newcastle Liberals Jenny Barrie and Callum Pull have been nominated and will be on the ballot.
Wollongong City Council
Long serving councillor John Dorahy expressed his disappointment while processing “what the dickens” went wrong following the Liberal Party head office blunder that could see Labor continue to dominate all levels of government in Wollongong.
“I hope Wollongong will be OK given the next make up of the council,’’ he said.
Mr Dorahy is one the many Liberal casualties who are out of the race in the September 14 elections along with fellow councillors Cameron Walters and Elisha Aitken.
“The reaction naturally is hugely disappointing, hugely surprise,’’ he said, adding how it was “99 per cent unlucky’’ with no chance to salvage change.
“I think there will be plenty of questions asked about what the Dickens has gone wrong.
“I know walking around today that there’s a lot of disappointment, there’s a lot of huge surprise, a lot of people saying ‘sorry, I wish you were running’.’’
Mr Dorahy has served as a councillor for 13 years and been a Liberal Party member for 14 years. He also successfully ran against NSW Health Minister Ryan Park in the 2011 state poll for the seat of Keira.
He also lost a bid to become Wollongong’s Lord Mayor in July when Gordon Bradbery defeated him.
Mr Walters slammed the Liberal Party head office headquarters for the massive error which has denied 12 party hopefuls the chance to run for Wollongong.
“This catastrophic failure is entirely unacceptable, especially given that all paperwork was completed and handed over to the secretariat at their request,’’ he said.
“The situation was further exacerbated when local Liberals attempted to assist with lodging the paperwork early that morning, yet no calls or messages to the secretariat were returned.’’
The Helensburgh resident cited upgrades to the Proud Park Dog Park, securing a location for the new Helensburgh Library and Community Centre, sporting field upgrades at Rex Jackson Oval and the installation of CCTV at Bald Hill among his achievements.
“I love this community, and no matter what capacity I serve in, I will always be a passionate advocate to make our community a better place,’’ he said.
Georges River Council
The Georges River Council election has been thrown into chaos after the Liberals missed the candidate nomination deadline.
Peakhurst Ward councillor Lou Konjarski and Mortdale Ward newcomer Dr Andrew Ng will miss out on contesting the upcoming local election after the Liberal Party failed to submit their candidate nominations to the NSW Electoral Commission.
Fellow Liberal candidates for Hurstville Ward (Nancy Lui), Kogarah Bay Ward (Sam Stratikopoulos) and Blakehurst Ward (Oliver Dimoski) managed to make it through unscathed onto the party ticket.
The trio will now comprise all that is left of a whittled-down Liberal offer at the Georges River election on September 14.
A source said the two candidates who missed out due to the blunder were “very disappointed” but “still happy to help the Liberal Party”.
Penrith Council
Two out of three wards in Penrith council will be Liberal free, following the “devastating” blunder.
Among the casualties of the deadline gaffe is Penrith’s Deputy Mayor Mark Davies, along with his councillor colleagues Bernard Bratusa, Mark Rusev and Marlene Shipley.
Marked safe is Cr Ross Fowler, who will bring four blue ribbon candidates to the ballot for Penrith’s north ward.
Councillor Marlene Shipley said she was “devastated” and “heartbroken” by the shock realisation that her career with Penrith Council had been imminently cut short, due to factors beyond her control.
“I don’t want to say it feels like a waste of time, but its taken me two and a half years to get my head around council and recognise how much I can actually to do for the community and now its just been ripped from under me,” Cr Shipley said
Blue Mountains
Meanwhile, the nearby Blue Mountains stare down the barrel of having the next four years without any conservative vote with both Liberal candidates scrapped.
Former member for the Blue Mountains Roza Sage, whose time in council has now been cut short after just one term, said the blunder was “disappointing”.
“The most disappointing part of it is now the Blue Mountain don't have a choice in not having a conservative voice in our council, the rest are pretty much left leaning,” Cr Sage said
“We had a very talented team put together to contest the elections so we are just coming to terms with it now.”
Long time Liberal councillor Kevin Schreiber was set to resign this election, with Rita Fisher a solicitor and business owner from Leura set to take the torch.
Campbelltown Council:
Four Campbelltown councillors including Mayor George Greiss will not be able to run due to the Liberal Party’s blunder. However Mayor Greiss announced plans to retire after his current term prior to the scandal.
Those impacted include councillors Marian George, Dr John Chew and Riley Munro all of which had high hopes to run for re-election after joining Campbelltown Council in 2021.
“They left us out to dry,” Cr Munro said.
“If it had just been a resource issue, we would have done it ourselves. But they didn’t communicate that to us till they went to the media today.”
He said councillors had completed everything required of them for a nomination and were only waiting on a ‘yes’ from the Liberals for it to go through.
Mr Munro said all of his calls and emails to the Liberals after the incident had been ignored.
“It’s been complete silence from the entire HQ,” he said.
He said his time on council had been a tremendous honour and his only regret is that it was coming to an end due to an “administrative error” that they had no control over.
Camden Council
A third of Camden Council councillors have been barred from entering the upcoming election. Liberal candidates have all been forced to withdraw except deputy mayor Therese Fedeli.
Ms Fedeli has been on council since 2012 and served as Mayor in 2019. She did not respond to The Daily Telegraph for comment.
Councillors Lara Symkowiak and Usha Dommarju, from the north ward, and Russell Zammit from the south ward have all been forced to drop out due to the mistake.
Randwick City Council
While Randwick had been named as partially impacted by the debacle, this has been denied by candidate Andrew Hay.
“The Randwick Liberals are not affected by the nomination issues elsewhere in the state,” a statement from the Randwick Liberals said.
“We are operating at full strength, and successfully nominated 15/15 candidates.
“All voters in Randwick City Council will be able to vote above the line for the Liberals!”
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