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They’re the progressive women running for election in Sydney. Just don’t mention the T-word

By Anthony Segaert

September 13, 2024 — 5.00am

As voters go to the polls on Saturday, we explore what’s at stake in the NSW local government elections.See all 10 stories.

One issue was on everyone’s lips in the Georges River Council area in mid-2019: the closure of the community pool.

Loved by many, the Kogarah War Memorial Pool had been shut down by the southern Sydney council after pollution was discovered leaking into the nearby waterway.

Peaceful Bayside’s Heidi Lee Douglas (left) with Georges River Residents and Ratepayers’ Elise Borg (right).Credit: Kate Geraghty

Elise Borg didn’t want to lose the pool and neither did her community.

“Lobbying council on different issues, [it felt] like we were being completely ignored by the council,” she said. So she decided to stand for election.

“We could either keep screaming from the outside, or get a seat at the table.”

Borg and a small collective of like-minded residents registered a new party – the Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Association. At the 2021 elections, they gained four spots on the 15-member council and Borg became deputy mayor late last year.

She expects her group, which will run candidates in every ward, to perform successfully in Saturday’s council elections, too. Her party isn’t alone: similar groups have appeared in neighbouring Bayside Council and further afield in Parramatta, Sutherland and Campbelltown.

This trend is not new: for instance, the Your Northern Beaches Independent Team, led first by now-MP Michael Regan, has dominated that council since 2017 and, before that, as Your Warringah since the mid-2000s. What is new is the scale at which these parties are growing: 15 council-specific local parties are running in this election across NSW.

And this group of progressive, community-minded independents – mostly women – is hoping to build on the momentum of their time on councils and latch on to the federal trend of voter discontent with major parties.

Are these the teals of local government?

Kellie Darley has set up her own political party, Community Champions.

“My feeling about being a teal depends on the day of the week and what they’re doing in Canberra,” said Kellie Darley, who ran as an independent on the City of Parramatta Council in 2021 after working in community development and running a local parents’ group on Facebook.

“It’s a badge of honour, to be a teal [in Parramatta]. The community’s more sophisticated [than in the past], they’re more educated and professional. They expect more.”

This election, she has created the Community Champions party and will run candidates in four of five wards.

“I had seen a real gap between what the council was doing and what they wanted. Residents deserved better,” she said.

Once elected, these independent councillors have gained reputations for their effectiveness.

“I get 60-70 per cent of issues across the line,” said Heidi Lee Douglas, a Peaceful Bayside councillor. “I think that’s pretty good, because I’m one independent … But we do get stonewalled.

“I ran for council because … I couldn’t see my values reflected in council decisions,” said Douglas. “I could see council was ignoring community concerns, making justifications, buck-passing, saying [they] were doing enough. But there’s a saying: don’t get angry, get elected.”

But to do so independents need money – that’s one of the most significant differences between them and the teals, who were bankrolled by the Climate 200 group, and whose biggest donor was Atlassian founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Borg estimated her party’s campaign will cost between $15,000-$18,000.

Mayor of Northern Beaches Council Sue Heins is running again with the Your Northern Beaches independents ticket.Credit: Edwina Pickles

“That’s for corflutes, letter box drops, how to votes, it’s mostly for printing and materials,” she said. “[To fundraise] we held a trivia night at the local golf club. That’s real grassroots funding.”

What they don’t have in cash, the independents are making up for in volunteers: the Georges River Residents and Ratepayers party will have up to 200 local people manning booths across five wards on Saturday.

“Our similarity to teals is that we have united [our volunteers] under a single vision,” Borg said.

Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins, of Your Northern Beaches, doesn’t like being called a teal – “we were here first” – but said the community supported the party because their candidates didn’t see councils as a “training ground for future aspirations”.

“Big party politics just doesn’t resonate at a local council at all.”

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They’re the progressive women running for election in Sydney. Just don’t mention the T-word

By Anthony Segaert

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