Local election results show familiar Cumberland and Parramatta council
Cumberland and Parramatta have new councillors, but some faces might seem very familiar.
Parramatta
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The final votes are in, and the new Cumberland and Parramatta councils are looking strikingly familiar.
There will be 10 former councillors joining Cumberland council, which includes six former Holroyd councillors, two former Auburn and two Parramatta.
Parramatta council will welcome back five former councillors; Pierre Esber, Andrew Wilson, Lorraine Wearne, Steven Issa and Robert Dwyer will be stepping into the chambers for another three years.
“I’m humbled that I’ve been given the opportunity to represent Parramatta,” Mr Issa said. The Liberal Party will have six councillors for Parramatta, followed by Labor with five, the first Greens councillor, two from the newly created Our Local Community Party and independent Lorraine Wearne. Former Hills Shire mayor and current Liberal Party member Andrew Jefferies will take a seat in the North Rocks ward, a newly acquired suburb of Carlingford.
“I think the Liberal Party are prepared to work with all the parties and political groups for the benefit of Parramatta,” Mr Issa said.
Mr Esber said the swing to Labor and Independent has proven residents are “ready to move forward”.
“This is what the people of Parramatta have given us, and this is what we’ll work with,” Mr Esber said.
“We will make it work, and we’ll have to make it work because the people want their council to move forward.”
Parramatta
Dundas
Benjamin Barrak
Pierre Esber
Michelle Garrard
Epping
Bill Tyrell
Donna Davis
Lorraine Wearne
North Rocks
Paul Han
Andrew Jefferies
Bob Dwyer
Parramatta
Sameer Pandey
Martin Zaiter
Phil Bradley
Rosehill
Steven Issa
Patricia Prociv
Andrew Wilson
Former Holroyd mayor Greg Cummings will be among the 10 councillors returning to Cumberland, as well as Liberal member Ross Grove. The mix of councillors will be far greater in Cumberland with votes expected to reflect seven Labor, one independent, one Our Local Community member, and five Liberal, with one final seat too close to call. Mr Grove is confident that the control shift to Labor will not damper unanimous decisions.
“I suspect that we have a lot more common ground than there would be on the Parramatta council,” Mr Grove said.
“I think voters will be disappointed that Labor will not be able to deliver on their promises of demerging ... I plan on holding the Labor councillor to account and monitoring this outlandish promise of a demerger that has won the hearts and minds of residents.”
Former Parramatta mayor and Greystanes resident Paul Garrard said he will be bringing his experience as a mayor and councillor without the “burden of party politics”.
“I am open to work with Labor for the benefit of the people of Cumberland,” Mr Garrard said.
“This is a whole new area and I feel that I’ve polled well in the Auburn area, so it’s a matter of making sure the former Holroyd councillors don’t forget those areas that were not in their council before, this is a far bigger area than they had and so the issues are going to be bigger.”
Mr Garrard will be the only Our Local Community member to make it to the final council, if Eddy Sarkis is outvoted by Glen Richardson thanks to the Labor Party’s preference deals.
Cumberland
Granville
Steve Christou
Joseph Rahme
Ola Hamed
Greystanes
Greg Cummings
Eddy Sarkis OR Glen Richardson
Ross Grove
Regents Park
George Campbell
Ned Attie
Irene Simms
S outh Granville
Glen Elmore
Paul Garrard
Tom Zrieka
Wentworthville
Lisa Lake
Michael Zaiter
Suman Saha
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