The voters affected by the NSW Liberal council fiasco

The NSW Liberals are reeling from the catastrophic failure to nominate more than 100 candidates in 16 councils for next month’s election. The fiasco, which opposition leader Mark Speakman described as “probably the worst act of mismanagement” in the state branch’s history, has effectively unseated 38 councillors and left whole communities without Liberal representation.

The Liberal Party failed to nominate a single candidate in seven councils, with a further nine partially affected. Analysis from psephologist Ben Raue, who runs The Tally Room blog, has shown approximately 132 candidates were left off the ballot for the September 14 poll.

Councils that will not have a single Liberal candidate are Blue Mountains, Campbelltown, Cessnock, Lane Cove, Northern Beaches, Shoalhaven and Wollongong.

The most significant casualty is the Northern Beaches Council, where the Liberals currently hold six seats and had planned to nominate 15 candidates. Deputy Mayor Georgia Ryburn, who was a likely candidate for mayor, said she had been left feeling “shocked, gutted, in disbelief”.

“I’m really devastated not just for the candidates, but also for our community who at this upcoming election won’t have a choice to vote Liberal,” Ryburn said on Thursday.

“On the northern beaches, the Liberals had the most votes. It’s important to our community that we are representative at the local government area.”

Northern Beaches Deputy Mayor Georgia Ryburn said the fiasco had left her feeling “shocked, gutted, in disbelief”.Credit: Steven Siewert

Lane Cove was also hit hard, with all nine nominations not lodged. Current Mayor Scott Bennison, who was a member of the Liberal Party before losing preselection in July to 22-year-old parliamentary staffer Rory Burke, side-stepped disaster after nominating as an independent before this week’s deadline.

“It was a bit like Bradbury, they just fell over,” said Bennison, who felt “vindicated” by the Liberal’s failure to lodge nominations in time: “I dodged the bullet.”

Former Liberal now independent Scott Bennison.

“[Liberal] head office are pretty useless at this sort of stuff. I’m surprised that they stuffed it up so badly, but I’m not surprised because they are so useless.”

Bennison, who is unsure if he will contest the mayorship if re-elected to council, feared the absence of Liberals could create instability on council.

“We need stability in Lane Cove Council because if not, there’s a real possibility we will have an administrator in place.”

The Blue Mountains and Wollongong votes have been narrowed to a Greens versus Labor contest, with independents serving as a third option.

In Camden, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Georges River, Hornsby, Maitland, Newcastle, North Sydney and Penrith, some but not all Liberal candidates were left off the ballot.

The Liberals currently hold six seats on Penrith Council, but could be left with just two if voting remains unchanged from the 2021 election.

In the council’s East Ward the Liberals failed to nominate a single candidate, meaning Labor’s five candidates will be voted in unopposed despite currently holding only two seats. Liberal candidates will also be absent in Penrith’s South Ward, where they previously held two seats.

NSW Liberal Party president Don Harwin and sacked state director Richard Shields.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

North Sydney will be largely unaffected, however the Liberals’ plans to make inroads into the St Leonards ward have been dashed after the party’s five candidates were not nominated.

While the fallout will not be fully understood until after the election, the fiasco has damaged the NSW Liberal Party brand.

Outrage from party members, councillors and high-ranking political figures led to an emergency meeting of the NSW Liberal executive on Thursday night which unanimously voted to sack state director Richard Shields.

Relaying a conversation with Shields, a senior Liberal source said the state director told him he “misinterpreted the amount of work involved” in the nomination process, after the task was transferred from individual councils in 2021 to the party executive.

Shields, who also serves as Woollahra mayor, has denied responsibility and pointed the finger at NSW Liberal Party president Don Harwin, saying he had “volunteered to run the local government nomination process”.

With Alexandra Smith, Max Maddison, Megan Gorrey and Anthony Segaert

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