2021 New South Wales local elections

2021 New South Wales local elections

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Registered	4,838,137
Turnout	83.05% ( 6.45pp)
First party Second party Third party   IND Leader N/A N/A N/A Party Independents Labor Liberal Seats won 776 188 127 Seat change 86 3 13 Popular vote 1,3921,42 1,071,688 703,796 Percentage 33.73% 26.67% 17.52% Swing 2.05 1.05 7.99   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   OLC Leader No leader Paul Garrard Angela Vithoulkas Party Greens OLC Small Business Last election 4 Did not exist Seats before 5 2 Seats won 65 10 1 Seat change 11 5 1 Popular vote 355,196 72,942 12,244 Percentage 8.84% 1.81% 0.30% Swing 1.26 0.08 0.30   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   SFF AJP SAP Leader Robert Borsak No leader William Bourke Party SFF Animal Justice Sustainable Last election 2 0 Did not contest Seats before 2 0 0 Seats won 5 1 2 Seat change 3 1 2 Popular vote 12,053 9,724 7,308 Percentage 0.30% 0.24% 0.18% Swing 0.20 0.20 0.18
Largest party in each LGA

The 2021 New South Wales local elections were held on 4 December 2021 to elect the councils of 161 of the 168 local government areas (LGAs) in New South Wales. Several councils also held mayoral elections and/or referendums.^[1]

Previous referendums took three net councillors in three LGAS:

The Liberal Party did not run in Kiama, North Sydney or Shoalhaven, however a number of party members chose to contest as independents.^[2]

Background

Following the 2012 elections, the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948 was introduced, leading to the amalgamations and mergers of a number of councils. This resulted in 79 councils being contested in 2016 and 46 2017. 2021 marked the first time in 9 years that the vast majority of councils were being contested at the same time.

The elections were scheduled to be held in 2020, but as a result of the

Two councils − Fairfield and Penrith − opted to use the services of the Australian Election Company, while all other elections were conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission.^[4]

The election for Norfolk Island Regional Council, which was meant to be held at the same time as New South Wales, was also postponed in 2020. It was later scheduled to be held in March 2021, however the council was suspended in February 2021 and eventually dismissed on 6 December 2021.^[5]

Lead Greens candidate for Orange, Melanie McDonell, announced on 21 May 2021 she would leave the Greens and stand on a "McDonell Team" independent ticket.^[6]

Political parties

The following registered parties contested the elections. This does not include unregistered groups of independents:

• Animal Justice Party
• Greens
• Labor Party
• Liberal Democrats
• Liberal Party
• Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
• Socialist Alliance
• Sustainable Australia Party
• The Small Business Party

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 2021 elections.

Results

Party			Votes	%	Swing[10]	Seats	Change
	Independents		1,3921,42	33.73	–2.05	776	86
	Labor		1,071,688	26.67	+1.05	188	3
	Liberal		703,796	17.52	–7.99	127	13
	Greens		355,196	8.84	+0.21	65	11
	Independent Liberal		95,602	2.38	+1.08	7	2
	Our Local Community		72,942	1.81	+0.08	10	6
	Clover Moore Independent Team		47,877	1.19	–1.41	4	1
	Your Northern Beaches		46,355	1.15	–8.00	6
	Shoalhaven Independents		27,254	0.68	–0.63	4	1
	Lake Mac Independents		24,922	0.62	–0.48	3
	Women's Party		18,774	0.47	+0.47	3	3
	Residents and Ratepayers		16,607	0.41	+0.41	4	4
	Independent National		16,140	0.40		9
	Small Business		12,244	0.30	+0.30	1	1
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers		12,053	0.30	+0.12	5	3
	Residents First Woollahra		10,951	0.27	–0.07	5
	Liverpool Community Independents		10,803	0.27	–0.48	2
	Animal Justice		9,724	0.24	+0.20	1	1
	Lorraine Wearne Independents		9,423	0.24	+0.05	1
	Community First Team		7,561	0.19	–0.22	1
	Sustainable Australia		7,308	0.18	+0.18	2	2
	Serving Mosman		6,870	0.17	–0.09	4	1
	Good For Manly		6,629	0.17	–0.48	1
	Ben Shields Team		5,687	0.14	+0.01	1
	Totally Locally Committed		4,809	0.12	–0.33	1	1
	Liberal Democrats		4,376	0.11	−0.09	0	1
	Strathfield Independents		4,120	0.10	+0.03	2	1
	Nella Hall Independents		3,298	0.09	–0.07	1
	Independent Labor		2,892	0.08	–0.15	1	3
	Our Sustainable Future		2,769	0.07	–0.19	1
	Socialist Alliance		2,612	0.07	+0.05	0
	Australia First		2,549	0.06	–0.10	0
	Kogarah Residents Association		919	0.02	–0.14	0	1
	Arts		536	0.01	+0.01	0
	Science		536	0.01	+0.01	0
	Communist League		116	0.01	+0.01	0
	Independent One Nation		46	0.00	–0.16	0	1
Total			4,018,048	100.00	–	–	–
Registered voters / turnout			4,838,137	83.05	+6.45	–	–

Council totals

Aftermath

Analysis commissioned by the NSWEC found 55 voters in Singleton, 54 in Shellharbour and 34 voters in Kempsey who attempted to use iVote were prevented from casting their vote.^[12] As a result, re-runs were ordered by the Supreme Court of NSW which were held on 30 July 2022 and iVote was not used for the 2023 state election.

Countbacks were introduced in January 2022 for council vacancies across the state, although by-elections are still used for some councils.[16]

By-elections

Countbacks

Notes

References