Ex-MP Belinda Neal closes in on political comeback in council election
Belinda Neal’s attempt to score the top spot on Labor’s election ticket for the Central Coast Council marks her most serious push for political rehabilitation since ‘the Iguana affair’.
Former federal Labor MP Belinda Neal looks set to make a political comeback with a strong performance in party preselections for a winnable seat at upcoming NSW council elections.
Ms Neal, best known for an altercation she had as a Labor MP with staff at a Gosford waterfront bar called Iguana Joe’s, is likely to be Labor’s top candidate for her local area at Central Coast Council elections after winning more votes than party rivals in a preselection ballot on Saturday.
Ms Neal’s attempt to score the top spot on Labor’s election ticket for the council’s West Gosford ward marks her most serious push for political rehabilitation since “the Iguana affair” and losing her seat at the 2010 election.
Her return to the fray has nevertheless polarised locals in the ALP, with voter support almost evenly split on Saturday between her backers and others loyal to Deborah O’Neill, Labor’s NSW No.1 Senate ticket holder and longtime adversary of Ms Neal inside the party’s Right faction.
While supporters claim Ms Neal’s name will boost Labor’s prospects in her local ward area at council elections on September 14, detractors argue that she risks becoming Labor’s face across all of the sprawling central coast and her unpopularity could adversely affect the party’s vote at council, state and federal elections.
Ms Neal’s attempt to revive her political career by scoring a winnable council seat was first reported by The Weekend Australian. Her preselection bid came a week after she received ALP life membership at the party’s state conference and two years after she was readmitted to party ranks following her expulsion in 2017.
According to internal ALP ballot figures, Ms Neal scored 27 primary votes from party preselectors for the West Gosford ward on Saturday. Her main rival, so-called “O’Neill candidate” Adam McArdle, was initially ahead with 33.
Ms Neal advanced to the front with 36 when she received five extra votes from Labor’s 20 per cent affirmative action loading for female candidates, plus four preference votes from the No.2 candidate on her ticket, Mark Ellis.
She could score a further nine votes from the ALP Left candidate Van Davy, who preferenced her ahead of Mr McArdle.
The final result will be known later this week when the NSW ALP’s appeals tribunal rules on some voter challenges.
Ms Neal declined to comment until the result was declared. Her supporters said Saturday’s preselection marked a “dramatic defeat” for Senator O’Neill’s group. The O’Neill group also did not win in a separate East Gosford preselection ballot. Senator O’Neill did not return The Australian’s calls seeking comment.
The NSW Liberals’ opposition spokesman for the central coast, Adam Crouch, said Ms Neal’s return to politics would bring more Labor “division and dysfunction” to the area.
“This is not the fresh start our community needs,” he said.
Ms Neal, 61, was a Labor NSW senator from 1994 to 1998. She won the lower house central coast seat Robertson in 2007 but lost it at the 2010 election not long after the Iguana Joe’s incident.
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