Cumberland councillor Steve Christou quits Our Local Community after party’s attempt to strike deal with Labor

After quitting a beleaguered party for the second time in five years, a western Sydney councillor plans to form a political alliance with a fellow right-wing politician.

Cumberland councillor Steve Christou loathed the Our Local Community’s deal with Labor. Picture: Toby Zerna

Five years after he quit Labor to become mayor, a Cumberland councillor has cut ties with another party and plans to form a breakaway group with a controversial Liverpool councillor previously fined over Islamaphobic flyers.

Steve Christou informed Our Local Community leader Paul Garrard last week he would immediately resign, just over a month since he was re-elected to the Granville ward.

Cr Christou quit two weeks after Labor rival Ola Hamed was elected mayor, with the support of the Liberals, during a heated meeting.

In a statement, Cr Christou, who was the mayor from 2019 to 2021, said he was disappointed his OLC party colleagues had met with Labor to try to work out a deal around the mayoralty ahead of the October 16 vote.

“I was never in favour of this arrangement and had made my feelings expressly clear that I would not vote for such an arrangement when voting for the mayor in council’s chamber,’’ he said.

Paul Garrard has lost another member of his troubled party. Picture: Keri Megelus

Liberals including Michael Zaiter and Joseph Rahme – who previously backed the conservative OLC – switched support to Labor and voted for Cr Hamed to become mayor over Cr Garrard.

Cr Hamed called for the council to shed the “toxicity’’ that plagued the chamber during the last term, while Cr Rahme defended his decision to back Labor after his lack of trust with the OLC “inflated exponentially” weeks before the vote.

The decision for the OLC to strike a deal with Labor “disappointed” Cr Christou.

“For over five years and two council terms, I have worked very hard to turn the council seat of Granville from a safe Labor seat where two councillors should be getting elected into a marginal seat, ensuring the Labor Party is only able to have one councillor elected to the Granville ward,’’ he said.

Cr Garrard said he discussed Cr Christou’s decision to quit with him last week.

“Steve is welcome to go his own way, but in our organisation discipline is a very big part of how we operate,’’ he said.

“I think our party will continue to be relevant to the wider community, particularly on local issues, and we aim to be the part of choice for all residents.’’

Cr Rahmecommended Cr Christou for being courageous to resign amid the “old-style politics” of the OLC.

Councillors Joseph Rahme and Steve Christou in 2018. Picture: Joel Carrett

“It would seem vote OLC and who knows what you get. It’s a lucky dip,’’ Cr Rahme said.

“The OLC party seems to be imploding from within, having had large representation last term in both Cumberland and Parramatta councils, to zero representation in Parramatta and now two councillors in Cumberland.

“This is a sign that local residents have had enough of the games and, as the old adage goes, ‘the servicing of a multitude of masters’.’’

Cr Christou indicated that, “in the not too distant future”, he and former OLC Liverpool councillor Peter Ristevski would announce a new political party “which represents the voice of local residents”.

Cr Ristevski, a former Liverpool deputy mayor, returned to local politics last month, a year after he was convicted of printing electoral material that did not show name of an instructee and printing electoral material not showing the name of the printer.

The charges were laid after he distributed a fake, bigoted flyer purporting to be from Holsworthy MP Tina Ayyad – the wife of his rival, Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun.

Liverpool councillor Peter Ristevski has also quit Our Local Community.

Cr Ristevski delivered the fake pamphlets to letterboxes in March last year, with the face of Ms Ayyad on the front and the slogan “let’s promote Islamisation vote for me”.

Cr Christou said he was not fazed by Cr Ristevski’s convictions despite his many of his constituents being Islamic.

“All I can say is I represent every member of the community including the Islamic community,’’ he said.

Nor was he concerned about walking away from two parties in five years.

“I’m there to represent the community and at the end of the day I got elected because of my strong values and strong representation of the community,’ he said.

Cr Christou’s tenure with the OLC has been filled with controversies including a push to ban same-sex parenting books at Cumberland libraries.