2016 New South Wales local elections

The 2016 New South Wales local elections were held on 10 September 2016 to elect the councils of 79 of the 128 local government areas (LGAs) of New South Wales. Several councils also held mayoral elections and/or referendums.^[2]

The elections were conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission, with the exception of Fairfield, Gunnedah, Kempsey, Lake Macquarie and Penrith, who chose to conduct their own elections.^[2]

The election in Tweed was deferred until 29 October 2016 due to the death of a candidate.^[3]

Background

Following the 2012 elections, major changes occurred as a result of the enactment of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 and as a result of a review by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) that commenced in 2013. On 12 May 2016, following a further review by the Minister for Local Government and the independent Local Government Boundaries Commission, Premier Mike Baird announced Stage 1 starting with 19 new councils, through amalgamations and mergers, with immediate effect. The Minister indicated in principle support to create a further nine new councils, subject to the decision of the courts.^[4]^[5] On the same day, the Governor of New South Wales acted on the advice of the Minister, and proclaimed the 19 new local government areas. Another proclamation occurred a few months later with the amalgamation of City of Botany Bay and City of Rockdale.^[6]

This resulted in 46 councils not being contested until 2017, before the vast majority contested together again in 2021.

Parties

The following registered parties contested this election. This does not include groups of independents:

In addition, a number of local government-registered parties also contested the elections.^[7]

Party changes before elections

A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2016 elections.

In Fairfield, Labor councillor George Barcha was handed a 6-month suspension for branch stacking and ran fourth on the party's Cabravale Ward ticket at the election.^[8]

Council	Ward	Councillor			Date
Cessnock	C Ward	Suellen Wrightson	Liberal	Palmer United	23 June 2013
Penrith	East	Maurice Girotto	Australia First	Independent	31 October 2013
Hurstville	Peakhurst	Michelle Stevens	Labor	Independent	3 April 2014
Ballina	B Ward	Jeff Johnson	Greens	Independent	16 February 2015^[9]
Wagga Wagga	Unsubdivided	Paul Funnell	Democratic Labour	Country	5 March 2015
Wagga Wagga	Unsubdivided	Paul Funnell	Country	Independent	29 March 2015
Fairfield	Cabravale	George Barcha	Labor	Independent Labor	11 November 2015
Blacktown	Ward 5	Jacqueline Donaldson	Liberal	Independent	2015
Penrith	East	Maurice Girotto	Independent	Christian Democrats	16 March 2016
Fairfield	Cabravale	Dai Le	Liberal	Independent	16 August 2016
Fairfield	Mayor	Frank Carbone	Labor	Independent	30 August 2016

Results

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats^[b]^[c]	Change
	Independents	678,591	39.59	1.45	545
	Labor	429,605	24.60	5.43	81
	Liberal	286,013	16.40	−5.45	48
	Greens	110,491	6.35	−0.33	23
	Clover Moore Independent Team	45,224	2.60	1.71	5	1
	Independent National	40,896	2.35	1.36	15
	Shoalhaven Independents	21,510	1.31	0.98	5	2
	Independent Liberal	21,364	1.30	−2.57	5
	Independent Lake Alliance	20,978	1.21	0.44	1	3
	Lake Mac Independents	19,036	1.10	1.10	3	3
	Christian Democrats	15,326	0.90	0.49	0
	Liverpool Community Independents Team	13,207	0.75	0.54	2	1
	Totally Locally Committed	7,865	0.45	0.24	2
	Community First	7,049	0.41	0.25	1
	Sydney Matters	6,051	0.35	0.35	1	1
	Australia First	4,424	0.27	0.08	0	1
	Liberal Democrats	4,356	0.27	−0.04	0	1
	Our Sustainable Future	4,295	0.26	0.18	2
	Bob Thompson	3,891	0.25	0.13	1
	Independent Labor	3,700	0.23	−0.24	4
	Community Service Environment	2,152	0.14	0.02	0	1
	For A Better Shoalhaven	1,394	0.10	0.10	0
	Albury Citizens and Ratepayers	301	0.03	−0.05	0	1
	Animal Justice	193	0.02	0.02	0
Total		1,747,912	100.00	–	–	–

By-elections

The New South Wales Electoral Commission held a number of by-elections to fill vacancies on councils after the 2016 elections up until 2021.^[10]

Council	Ward	Before			Change		Result after preference distribution
Council	Ward	Councillor	Party		Cause	Date	Date	Party		Candidate	%
Campbelltown	Unsubdivided	Fred Borg		Totally Locally Committed	Death	20 December 2016	18 March 2017		Labor	Ben Gilholme	56.47
Campbelltown	Unsubdivided	Fred Borg		Totally Locally Committed	Death	20 December 2016	18 March 2017		Community First	Josh Cotter	43.53
Lithgow	Unsubdivided						8 April 2017		Independent	Darryl Goodwin^[d]	39.83
Lithgow	Unsubdivided						8 April 2017		Independent	Deanna Goodsell^[d]	21.04
Port Macquarie-Hastings	Unsubdivided						29 July 2017		Independent	Peta Pinson	51.07
Port Macquarie-Hastings	Unsubdivided						29 July 2017		Independent	Robert Turner	48.93
Brewarrina	Unsubdivided						19 August 2017		Independent	Michael Hertslet	N/A
Brewarrina	Unsubdivided						19 August 2017		Elected unopposed
Narromine	Unsubdivided						19 August 2017		Independent	Trudy Everingham	56.52
Narromine	Unsubdivided						19 August 2017		Independent	Ruth Carney	43.48
Tenterfield	Ward D						19 August 2017		Independent	Bob Rogan	54.43
Tenterfield	Ward D						19 August 2017		Independent	Brian Brown	45.57
Wollondilly	Unsubdivided						28 October 2017		Independent	Matt Smith	56.62
Wollondilly	Unsubdivided						28 October 2017		Independent	Laura Egan-Burt	43.38
Coonamble	Unsubdivided						26 March 2018		Independent	Robert Thomas	54.61
Coonamble	Unsubdivided						26 March 2018		Independent	Pat Cullen	45.39
Berrigan	Unsubdivided						14 July 2018		Independent	Roger Reynoldson	68.39
Berrigan	Unsubdivided						14 July 2018		Independent	Ruth Silvester	31.61
Greater Hume	East						24 November 2018		Independent	Lea Parker	52.34
Greater Hume	East						24 November 2018		Independent	Greg Mason^[e]	24.67
Cobar	Unsubdivided						8 December 2018		Independent	Kate Winders	51.53
Cobar	Unsubdivided						8 December 2018		Independent	Benny Hewlett	48.47
Griffith	Ward A						16 February 2019		Ind. National	Glen Andreazza	55.25
Griffith	Ward A						16 February 2019		Independent	Damien Marcus	44.75
Lachlan	Ward D						16 February 2019		Independent	Elaine Bendall^[d]	63.52
Lachlan	Ward D						16 February 2019		Independent	Dennis Brady^[d]	16.01
Uralla	Ward A						16 February 2019		Independent	Tom O'Connor	66.91
Uralla	Ward A						16 February 2019		Independent	Charlotte Field-Sampson	33.09
Coonamble	Unsubdivided						29 June 2019		Independent	Pat Cullen^[d]	33.11
Coonamble	Unsubdivided						29 June 2019		Independent	Barbara Deans^[d]	24.64

Notes

^ The election in Tweed was held on 29 October 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f This does not include seats in 46 LGAs that were won in 2012 but not up for re-election until the 2017 local elections.
^ Excluding directly-elected mayors.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Two vacancies on council, meaning two candidates were elected - this shows their primary vote before preference distribution.
^ Second-placed out of three candidate after initial preference distribution.

References

^ Mantel, Alice. "Big wins for Greens in Council elections". Canada Bay Greens. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Results by Local Government Area". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023.
^ Anthony, Bob. "New Tweed election date opens door for more potential candidates". Gold Coast Bulletin.
^ "Introduction". Stronger Councils. Government of New South Wales. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
^ "New councils for NSW". Family & Community Services (Press release). Government of New South Wales. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
^ "Local Government (Council Amalgamations) Proclamation 2016" (PDF). Stronger Councils. Government of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
^ "Local government register of political parties". New South Wales Electoral Commission.
^ McClymont, Kate (11 November 2015). "Fairfield councillor and ALP staffer George Barcha cops six months suspension for branch-stacking". Sydney Morning Herald.
^ "Greens' councillor to run as independent in state seat of Ballina". ABC News. 16 February 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
^ "Local government election results". New South Wales Electoral Commission.

[1] The election in Tweed was held on 29 October 2016.

[2017seats-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f This does not include seats in 46 LGAs that were won in 2012 but not up for re-election until the 2017 local elections.

[12] Excluding directly-elected mayors.

[first-14] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Two vacancies on council, meaning two candidates were elected - this shows their primary vote before preference distribution.

[three-15] Second-placed out of three candidate after initial preference distribution.

[3] Mantel, Alice. "Big wins for Greens in Council elections". Canada Bay Greens. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2024.

[NSWEC1-4] "Results by Local Government Area". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 29 December 2023.

[5] Anthony, Bob. "New Tweed election date opens door for more potential candidates". Gold Coast Bulletin.

[6] "Introduction". Stronger Councils. Government of New South Wales. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.

[7] "New councils for NSW". Family & Community Services (Press release). Government of New South Wales. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.

[8] "Local Government (Council Amalgamations) Proclamation 2016" (PDF). Stronger Councils. Government of New South Wales. Retrieved 12 May 2016.

[NSWEC2-9] "Local government register of political parties". New South Wales Electoral Commission.

[10] McClymont, Kate (11 November 2015). "Fairfield councillor and ALP staffer George Barcha cops six months suspension for branch-stacking". Sydney Morning Herald.

[11] "Greens' councillor to run as independent in state seat of Ballina". ABC News. 16 February 2015. Archived from the original on 23 September 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2024.

[13] "Local government election results". New South Wales Electoral Commission.

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