Administrative bungle opens up opportunities for unlikely contenders – including one who hopes to ‘pull off a Steven Bradbury’
Northern Beaches mayor, Sue Heins , and councillor Michael Regan talk to shoppers in Forestville ahead of the council elections.Northern Beaches mayor, Sue Heins , and councillor Michael Regan talk to shoppers in Forestville ahead of the council elections.It’s Friday morning in Sydney’s Forestville and the late-winter sun is shining on a suburban shopping centre that feels a world away from the chaos on Macquarie Street.
“Sir, do you know there’s a council election coming up?” Regan asks a man outside the supermarket, who ignores him and keeps walking.Northern Beaches mayor, Sue Heins, talks to a Forestville shopper. She hopes her Your Northern Beaches Independent Team can increase its representation without the Liberals.The Liberals have been erased entirely from eight councils, including the Northern Beaches, where all six councillors will lose their seats.
With more than a third of the Liberals’ intended candidates unable to run, many other people who otherwise wouldn’t have a chance now have a real shot at becoming councillors. An avid user of NSW’s government information public access laws, Walker was banned in 2015 from making Gipa applications against the council he hopes to get elected to. “I was the first in NSW to be banned,” he says cheerfully. “I’ve got a big sunflower badge to prove it.”
Kevin Holm, who is out shopping with his wife, Jan, doesn’t think the dearth of Liberal candidates will effect his vote too much. “We usually vote for whoever promises the best policies for the local area,” he says.“We were both reasonably hopeful we’d be re-elected,” says councillor Kristyn Glanville. “Now it’s looking like we will get Ethan Hrnjak up in Frenchs Forest.”
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