Labor majority indicated for Penrith Council elections

‘Fact checking’ and kicking the wokeness out of Penrith have taken centre stage of Saturday’s local government elections, before counting kicked off to reveal who nabbed a coveted seat on council.

Penrith Council candidates Sue Day, John Thain, Ross Fowler, Amanda Cardwell and Glenn Gardiner.

As voting wrapped up late on Saturday, it appears Penrith Council will have nearly a dozen Labor candidates, two Liberals, two Independents and perhaps one member of the Greens.

Two hours after voting, anti-woke crusader and first-time candidate for the Libertarian party, Vanessa Pollak was initially in front with a razor-thin lead in Penrith’s south ward, with Labor candidate Hollie McClean hot on her heels.

L: Independent councillor Sue Day, with newly elected Labor Cr Libby Austin

Just after 8pm, Ms Pollak held 35.04 per cent of her ward’s votes with Ms McClean coming in at 34.2 per cent.

However before 9pm, Labor forged ahead leaving Ms Pollak almost neck-and-neck with independent Councillor Sue Day before falling behind later in the night ending on 32.30 per cent of votes.

Elsewhere in Penrith, a lead emerged early for the Liberals in the north ward, with veteran councillor Ross Fowler looking to hang onto his seat for the suburbs with 38 per cent of votes.

L: Labor Cr John Thain with his son Henry.

Labor candidate John Thain will also maintain his place along side Robin Cook with 34.69 per cent of the votes.

At Labor’s post election counting party in Penrith RSL, John Thain told the Saturday Telegraph that while there was unlikely to be a definitive result tonight he “was feeling confident and would go to bed happy”.

Liberal councillors Ross Fowler and Rhys Nuttal.

The fourth and fifth councillors for north ward at this stage look to be independents Glenn Gardiner and Amanda Cardwell, but could change come Monday morning when 12,000 pre polling votes are to be counted.

The same goes for south ward where places number Faith Skinner and Rebecca Carrol from Cr Day’s independents are slated to form the rest of the ward.

Blue Mountains stay red

The Blue Mountains are not showing any signs of turning Green despite the Liberal Party’s absence, with the Labor Party holding comfortable leads in all four wards including a whopping 84 per cent of votes for Ward 3, with Mayor Mark Greenhill the lead candidate.

Cr Greenhill, who earlier in the day said the absence of the Liberals made for “an unusual election day”, will be joined by Nyree Fisehr and Margaret Buckham.

After voting ended, Cr Greenhill posted to social media a photo of him collapsed on the ground, indicating his exhaustion at the end of an “unusual” day, captioned “I’m not exhausted at all”.

Greens councillor Sarah Redshaw has kept her place in Ward 1 where she will be joined by Labor members Suzie Van Opdorp and Suzanne Jamieson.

An exhausted Mayor Mark Greenhill takes a nap as polling ends.

In Ward 2, Labor councillor Remola Hollywood, who was pleased with the positive feedback received on election day will serve another term alongside Claire West and Paul Gannon.

Greens councillor Brent Hoare will also remain on Ward 2.

Informal votes loom large in Penrith, Blue Mountains

In the Blue Mountains where the Liberal Party was completely exiled, informal votes accounted for 27 per cent of votes for Ward 1, and 26 per cent of Ward 2, which both have a landslide lead for Labor. Wards 2 and 3 have also had nearly a quarter of votes recorded as informal.

Informal votes continue to rise across Penrith LGA, accounting for just over a quarter of votes in Penrith’s south ward, and 21 per cent of north ward votes.

It comes as Liberals were exiled from having any representation in Penrith east ward, leading an all Labor team to be elected unopposed.

Fact checking and anti wokeness

Libertarians have rejected claims they have been spreading misinformation, with one volunteer in western Sydney saying he had been “attacked” and wrongfully accused of lying.

Tensions, which had been brewing since pre-polling, briefly came to a head on Saturday afternoon amid allegations Libertarian volunteers were spreading “alternative facts” about being the closest aligned option to the Liberal Party, which, due to last month’s deadline blunder, missed out on candidates in all but one Penrith ward.

Independent councillor Sue Day and newly elected Labor councillor Libby Austin, 19, began urging voters to “fact-check” what they were being told by Liberterian volunteers.

Cr Austin, Penrith council’s youngest member, said that during pre-polling last week, “a variety of volunteers were running around telling people they were the closest thing to the Liberal Party, when they’re actually far right.”

Libertarian volunteer Jason has denied this was the case, saying he had been “attacked” and wrongfully accused of lying, reiterating “The Liberal Party has nothing to do with us”.

Cr Day said she hoped residents would do their own homework to avoid someone being “elected on alternative facts”.

“I’m a bit upset,” she said.

“We’ve been hearing it all week that they represent the ‘Liberal values of Menzies’.”

A sign from the Libertarian party with a message that proved popular with voters.

Cr Day said she was hopeful about her chances of re-election, and that people would recognise “all the hard work” she has done for them.

“I show up, I stand up and I speak up, and I’m passionate about Penrith,” she said.

Libertarian candidate Vanessa Pollak at the ballot box.

Ms Pollak said she has been “warmly embraced” by the community so far, stating she is feeling “very confident”.

“The feedback I’ve been getting is that people are sick of being dragged through these identity politics, once upon a time we could all coexist but for some reason it’s been tipped over the edge and it’s a massive division and the government are using identity politics to divert the focus away from them,” she said.

“Labor is working hard to undermine me but the message I’m putting out is being warmly embrace.”

Call for council demerger

A resident from Berkshire Park, who asked not to be named, said that Penrith Council should be de-merged, stating that money was not going to the semi rural suburbs, and instead was being concentrated on the CBD.

The man said “it makes sense” to divide the council into the semi rural suburbs in the north such as Llandillo, Berkshire Park, Castlereagh and Cranebrook and the more metropolitan suburbs in the south like Penrith, Jamisontown, and Glenmore Park.

“In 1948 we had several different councils but then they all merged into the one, the problem is all the money is being spent on Penrith CBD and very little money and grants are going to the suburbs that need it,” he said.

“We’ve got houses going underwater, because there hasn’t been rural drainage in 30 and our children are missing out on play equipment, all they have is a grass paddock but council have spent all this money on parks in the city.”

Disillusioned voters who just don’t want a fine

In Penrith in western Sydney’s heartland, locals are trickling in with a sense of ambivalence over there civic duties.

Friends Margaret Colville and Clare, who is weeks away from celebrating her 90th birthday, both cast their votes for veteran councillor Kevin Crameri who they say “actually cares about the people of Penrith”.

“Kevin gets my vote because he isn’t political, he’s not caught up in the politics, he’s for the people,” Clare says, adding she has known him for years through ballroom dancing.

Last minute voters line up at Jamison High.

Elsewhere two first time parents said this was their first time voting in the local government elections, stating “usually we just cop the fine”.

“But now we’ve got a kid $110 in fines is baby formula and nappies, so it’s a waste of money for being lazy, may as well walk down the road and just do it,” the new mother said

Another woman, who asked not be named, said she was disillusioned with local government saying “I only voted because I have to”.

“Nothing gets done, I wouldn’t know one councillor from another,” she said

When asked what she thought what council could do better she said “literally the opposite of what they are doing now”.

Meanwhile a staunch Liberal voter, who asked not to be named, said she has strayed from her usual alliance and plans on voting independent because she didn’t like what the major parties had planned for Penrith.

“I have always voted Liberal in other levels of government but from what I’ve learned I’m voting independent because I don’t like what either major party will do the do the area. It’s a nice area and we don’t want it changed.”