In what can only be described as the biggest administrative Own Goal in NSW Electoral History, the NSW Liberal Party failed to submit complete nominations for the upcoming council election, with as many as 44 contests being affected across 17 councils. None has been more impacted than in Northern Beaches Council.
With cracks starting to appear in Your Northern Beaches following Michael Regan’s move from Local to State Government, the Liberal were poised to make significant inroads into Northern Beaches Council, as they looked to regain the lose State seat of Wakehurst and the Lost Federal Seats of Mackellar and Warringah in future elections.
Instead, a catastrophic administrative error means that none of the 6 current Liberal Councillors on Northern Beaches Council (including Michael Gencher, who defected from Your Northern Beaches), have been formally nominated, in any capacity and, hence, will not be taking part in the election for Northern Beaches Council.
In fact, the only person with any sort of Liberal alignment that will be running in the election is Mandeep Singh, whose own clerical error on his application sees him formally nominated as an Independent, despite being meant to run as the 3rd candidate on the ticket for the Liberal Party in the Pittwater Ward.
Despite his attempt to shift blame onto his staff, State Director Richard Shield was formally sacked by State Executive late last week, and it is expected that there will be more to come, while there have also been calls for NSW Liberal Party President and former MLC Don Harwin to resign.
However, it is not all smooth sailing for Your Northern Beaches. The movement that would have stood to gain the most from this is facing further factional infighting.
With Michael Gencher’s defection, along with Jose Menano-Pires quitting in protest at the alleged leadership fight occurring within Your Northern Beaches, the chinks in the once impenetrable armour are turning into full-blown cracks, with the announcement that fromer Teal Candidate for the state seat of Manly, Joeline Hackman, has been listed as the lead candidate for Your Northern Beaches in the Curl Curl Ward, replacing Sue Heins who has moved to the Frenches Forest Ward, who is expected to be join by Jody Williams in the 3rd seat.
This move suggests that the Teal Movement have decided to infiltrate Your Northern Beaches, and rumours have started swirling that Hackman will challenge Sue Heins for the Mayoralty, should Your Northern Beaches end up with a majority in council.
The biggest winner from these shenanigans appears to be the Greens, who look set to win a seat in every ward that they compete in, with Kristyn Glanville and Miranda Korzy set to be joined by (at least) Bonnie Harvey and Ethan Hrnjak.
With Candy Bingham (Good for Manly) and Vince De Luca (Independent) expected to retain their seats, this leaves the following seats as being in play:
- Curl Curl Ward Seat 3 – Expected to be between Jasper Thatcher (Labor) and Nicholas Beaugeard (Your Northern Beaches)
- Pittwater Ward Seat 3 – Expected to be between Evan Turner-Schiller (Greens), Judy Charnaud (Your Northern Beaches) and Mandeep Singh (Independent)
