Elections: 2021 Inner West, City of Sydney Council election updates
A Sydney councillor, who said a man’s rainbow flag was “as offensive as the flag of ISIS” and wanted a Donald-Trump style wall to keep non-local cars out, has lost her bid for re-election.
Inner West
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Labor and The Greens have secured five seats each on the 15-member Inner West Council, with results from preference counts to decide who will be assured of nabbing one of the remaining spots.
In the Ashfield ward Greens candidate Dylan Griffiths and Labor’s Mark Drury have been elected.
Controversial former Liberal councillor-turned independent Julie Passas has been booted from the council after she attracted just 0.27 per cent of the vote.
Ms Passas was found, by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, to have vilified her neighbour because of his sexuality after she demanded he remove a rainbow flag from his balcony.
She told police it was “as offensive as the flag of ISIS” and according to court documents, said the man should not be allowed to marry until he “could breastfeed and have children”.
In attempt to make a tongue in cheek point about traffic concerns, she also came under fire for a stunt which saw her call for a Donald-Trump style wall to be constructed to keep non-local cars out of the Inner West.
Ms Passas said she “probably” lost votes because she had been depicted as a “homophobe”, but she denied making the remark about breastfeeding and said the flag comparison was one she made to highlight how offended some residents felt.
“I know what I said...I stand by what happened, I don’t regret saying it because I didn’t say it,” Ms Passas said of the breastfeeding remark the court heard she made.
“I would regret it if it was the truth.”
On the flag issue she said “I was trying to give an analogy about how it feels to some people when I had residents complain about it”.
Seh also blamed the media for her defeat.
“My achievements are never reported,” Ms Passas said.
“I started the first Carnival of Cultures for an area that keeps calling itself inclusive, it went for 16 years.
“I was the reason the disabled access was put in at Summer Hill railway station.”
She said she fought for that for nine years.
“I had barbecues put in parks that were never there,” she said.
“I’ve had skate parks put in the park that no council had put in for young people.
She said she fought to have a statue of Mary Poppins put in Ashfield Park because the character’s creator was a resident of Ashfield.
Ms Passas said anyone with “fortitude or funding” should challenge the election result.
“People were coming out with their ballot paper and going up to the candidate and asking the candidate to fill it out for them. I witnessed it twice and put complaints in.
“Without how to votes, it was difficult for candidates that stuck to the rules and did not hand out how-to-votes.
“The training of the poll booth workers wasn’t intense enough.”
Ms Passas said despite her loss she would not stop advocating for her community.
“I’m not going away to die, I will still be a trouble making type of person if I think trouble needs to be made and I will be watching the council,” she said.
“I’m not the type of candidate that will sell up and move out, I love this area.”
Labor and The Greens will likely battle it out for the third Ashfield Ward spot on council.
Former Labor mayor Darcy Byrne has been re-elected in the Balmain Ward. Greens candidate Kobi Shetty has also been elected, with preferences to decide who will get the third spot.
Mr Byrne said while more than 50 per cent of votes were yet to be counted, Labor was “on track to be the largest group” on the next council.
“In both the Marrickville and Ashfield wards we are a big chance of doubling our representation and having two local Labor candidates elected in each of those wards,” he said on Facebook.
Results in from the Leichhardt ward show Greens councillor Marghanita Da Cruz has been re-elected, along with Labor candidate Philippa Scott.
Labor’s Mat Howard and Justine Langford from the Greens have secured wins in the Marrickville Ward, where incumbent independent Victor Macri is battling to be re-elected.
In the Stanmore Ward Labor’s Chloe Smith has been elected, along with Greens candidate Liz Atkins.
Deputy mayor and independent Pauline Lockie appears on track to be re-elected.
The final make up of the council is set to be determined during the next two weeks as counting continues and preferences are allocated.
DECEMBER 4 UPDATE – 9.20PM
Clover Moore is on track to extend her 17 year mayoral tenure on the City of Sydney as counting from today’s election continues.
With 15 per cent of the vote counted, Ms Moore leads the mayoral race with 43 per cent of the vote ahead of Linda Scott (16.6%), Yvonne Weldon (15.8%), Shauna Jarrett (9.6%), Sylvie Ellsmore (9.4%), and Angela Vithoulkas (5.6%).
The Clover Moore independent Team has secured 41 per cent of the total council vote. The early result represents a 13 per cent swing against the team, while independent candidates have picked up a 10.7 per cent increase in the vote and the Greens are up 8.8 per cent.
Labor and The Greens are dominating early counting in the Inner West with the Greens out front at 37.4 per cent in the total vote closely followed by Labor 35.9 per cent.
A total of 17 per cent of the vote has been counted as of 9.20pm.
The early results are similar to the last election in 2017 in which Labor and The Greens each secured five seats on the council, leaving the balance of power to independent and Liberal councillors.
Today’s council ward results show Greens candidates Dylan Griffiths and Liz Atkins are leading in the Ashfield and Stanmore wards while Labor candidates Darcy Byrne, Justine Langford and Philippa Scott are out front in Balmain, Marrickville and Leichhardt.
Counting continues until 11pm tonight.
DECEMBER 4 UPDATE, 8PM
Results for the Inner West and City of Sydney Council elections are beginning to trickle in after polling booths closed at 6pm tonight.
Clover Moore leads the pack of mayoral candidates in the City of Sydney where 11,733 votes have been counted – 6.8 per cent of the total count.
As of 8pm, Cr Moore has secured 5016 votes ahead of Linda Scott with 1984 votes, Yvonne Weldon (1888), Shauna Jarrett (1129), Sylvie Ellsmore (1120), and Angela Vithoulkas (596).
Clover Moore independent Team also leads the council’s total party results with 33.6 per cent of the vote ahead of the Greens (26 per cent) and Labor (17 per cent).
The early results represent a 21 swing away from the Clover Moore independent Team.
Labor and The Greens are meanwhile dominating early results from counting in the Inner West with the Greens out front at 39.8 per cent in the total vote closely followed by Labor 35.6 per cent.
A total of 2107 formal votes were counted as of 8pm, equating to 8.4 per cent of the total vote.
Results from the council’s wards show the Greens are leading in Ashfield, Balmain, Marrickville and Stanmore while Labor is out front in Leichhardt.
Counting continues to 11pm tonight.
5PM: One of the big questions facing voters in the inner west today is whether the council should be de-merged following its controversial amalgamation in 2016.
Voters at polling booths were today presented with the question: “Do you support the Inner West local government area being de-amalgamated, so as to restore the former local government areas of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville?”
Vic Macri, who is running in the Marrickville ward, is supportive of splitting the council back into three.
“From the feedback I’ve had today all the people are supportive of it, and that’s across party lines,” he said.
“The issue is the community were never given a say and without that we’re never going to be able to move forward.
“There will continue to be a drive until people are properly consulted.”
Greens councillor Marghanita da Cruz, speaking at the Leichhardt Town Hall today, said the merger had created various logistic issues for the council over the last four years.
“The council area spans from Croydon to Annandale – it’s a lot of area to cover and the issues are very different across the (LGA),” she said.
“There’s just so much to address you can’t do the adequate consolation and come up with the policies to support it.”
An independent costing report commissioned by the council states “there a range of risks that would need to be managed” if the council is split into three including managing loss of staff.
The State Government “has indicated a willingness to fund the de-amalgamation process, but there is a high level of uncertainty as to what de-amalgamation costs will be eligible, the report added.
The results of the poll will be a matter for the new council and the Minister Local Government.
DECEMBER 4 UPDATE, 3PM
Residents across inner Sydney are casting their votes in hotly contested council elections.
Corflutes and democracy sausages set the scene at polling booths in the inner west and City of Sydney Council regions as electors had their say on which councillors will represent their community over the next three years.
There were noticeable queues at some polling booths including the Inner West Council headquarters in Ashfield.
Election sausage sizzles were back at other voting locations including Balmain Public School where a team of P & C volunteers manned the grill.
P & C vice president Cliff Philipiah said it was great to be able to turn on the barbecue after the election was postponed twice due to Covid restrictions.
“All the money we’re raising goes back into the school and we’ll be here until 3pm selling as many as we can,” he said.
“There’s not as many people here as in the Federal elections – perhaps more people pre-polled this year and maybe there isn’t the same level of interest in council elections.”
Voters turning out today had plenty of options to choose from with a field of 67 candidates on ballot papers in the Inner West Council area and 44 in the City of Sydney.
In the City of Sydney, residents are voting on both councillor and mayor positions.
Current Lord Mayor Clover Moore is looking to extend 17-year term in the mayoral chair against a field of all female candidates including Angela Vithoulkas, Yvonne Weldon, Linda Scott, Shauna Jarrett and Sylvie Ellsmore.
Cr Moore’s team currently holds five seats on the council and is widely expected to return to power, having attracted more than 50 per cent of the vote in the last two elections.
Hot button issues in the electorate include the CBD’s recovery from the pandemic and affordable housing.
The City of Sydney is the only council in NSW where eligible businesses are also able to have two votes in the election.
In the Inner West, 10 of the 15 sitting councillors are vying for re-election including Darcy Byrne, who served as mayor until September this year when he was replaced by Greens councillor Rochelle Porteous, who is not contesting her seat.
It’s the second election for the council since its creation in the 2016 council mergers and this years election will include a poll asking if residents would support a “demerger” splitting the local government area into three.
The position of mayor will be determined after today’s election results are finalised by a majority vote of councillors at a meeting on December 29
More than 4.7 million people cast their early in this year’s local government elections across NSW.
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