2017 New South Wales mayoral elections

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections

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13 of the 33 directly-elected mayors in New South Wales
First party Second party   IND Leader N/A N/A Party Independents and local groups Labor Last election 7 mayors [a] 3 mayors [a] Seats before 5 4 Seats won 5 mayors 4 mayors   Third party Fourth party   Leader N/A No leader Party Liberal Greens Last election 1 mayor [a] 0 mayors [a] Seats before 2 0 Seats won 2 mayors 0

Main article: 2017 New South Wales local elections

The 2017 New South Wales mayoral elections were held on 9 September 2017 to elect mayors or lord mayors to 13 of the 46 local government areas (LGAs) up for election in New South Wales. The elections were held as part of the statewide local elections. ^[1]

While most mayors in New South Wales are elected by councillors at meetings, several choose to have directly elected (or popularly elected) mayors. ^[2]

This was the last time the position of mayor of North Sydney was directly elected, as a referendum held on the same day as the local elections saw 52.4% of residents vote in favour of replacing the election with a vote from councillors. The change came into effect in 2021. ^[3]

Background

2014 Willoughby by-election

Main article: 2014 Willoughby mayoral by-election

On 20 January 2014, Willoughby mayor Pat Reilly (Independent) died in hospital after a short sickness. ^[4]

Although she finished in third place on first preferences, Independent Liberal candidate Gail Giles-Gidney won the by-election on 12 April with 50.8% of the vote after preference distribution. ^[5]

2014 Newcastle by-election

Main article: 2014 Newcastle lord mayoral by-election

On 17 August 2014, Newcastle lord mayor Jeff McCloy (Independent) resigned following an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into donations he made to Liberal Party candidates during his tenure as a property developer. ^{[6] [7]}

The subsequent by-election on 15 November was won by Labor candidate Nuatali Nelmes. ^[8]

Candidates

Incumbents at the time of the elections are highlighted in bold text.

LGA	Held by	Labor	Liberal	Greens	Independent	Others
Burwood	Labor	John Faker	Joseph Del Duca			Lesley Furneaux-Cook (ICV)
Canada Bay	Labor	Angelo Tsirekas	Helen McCaffrey	Charles Jago	Daniela Ramondino
Hornsby	Liberal	Janelle McIntosh	Philip Ruddock	Emma Heyde	Christine Berman Mick Gallagher
Hunter's Hill	Independent		Zac Miles		Mark Bennett Ross Williams
Maitland	Labor	Loretta Baker	Bob Geoghegan	John Brown	Brian Burke Ken Wethered	Philip Penfold (PI)
Mosman	Serving Mosman				Simon Menzies Libby Moline	Roy Bendall (RFM) Carolyn Corrigan (SM)
Newcastle	Labor	Nuatali Nelmes	David Compton (disendorsed)	Therese Doyle	Ron Brown Kath Elliott Rod Holding	Steve O'Brien (SA)
North Sydney	Independent				Zoë Baker Jilly Gibson Jessica Keen	Michael Kong (LDP)
Orange	Independent			Stephen Nugent	Kevin Duffy Ron Gander Chris Gryllis Reg Kidd Tony Mileto Scott Munro Paula Townsend	Russell Turner (Ind. Nat) Jeff Whitton (Ind. ALP)
Port Stephens	Independent	Des Maslen			Geoff Dingle Sally Dover Peter Kafer Ryan Palmer Steve Tucker
The Hills	Liberal	Tony Hay	Michelle Byrne		Jeff Lowe	Ray Brown (BAP)
Willoughby	Independent Liberal				Angelo Rozos	Gail Giles-Gidney (Ind. Lib)
Wollongong	Wollongong Independent	David Brown	John Dorahy	Mithra Cox	Andrew Anthony Vicki Curran Warwick Erwin John Mullan Greg Petty	Gordon Bradbery (WI)

Retiring mayors

• Peter Blackmore (Independent) − Maitland, announced 17 May 2017 ^[9]
• Steve Russell (Liberal) − Hornsby, announced July 2017 ^[10]
• Bruce McKenzie (Independent) − Port Stephens, announced 9 August 2017 ^[11]
• John Davis (Independent) − Orange, announced 10 August 2017; not directly elected ^[12]
• Yvonne Keane (Liberal) − The Hills, announced 2017; not directly elected ^[13]
• Peter Abelson (Serving Mosman) − Mosman, announced 2017 ^[14]

Results

Burwood

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Burwood ^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	John Faker	8,403	52.6	+8.3
	Liberal	Joseph Del Duca	3,899	24.4	−3.3
	Community Voice	Lesley Furneaux-Cook	3,663	22.9	+1.7
Total formal votes			15,965	97.0
Informal votes				3.0
Turnout				79.6
	Labor hold		Swing	+8.3

Canada Bay

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Canada Bay ^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Angelo Tsirekas	17,589	39.7	−9.7
	Liberal	Helen McCaffrey	16,513	37.3	−4.1
	Independent	Daniela Ramondino	6,101	13.8	+13.8
	Greens	Charles Jago	4,117	9.3	+0.0
Total formal votes			44,320	96.1
Informal votes				3.9
Turnout				80.3
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Angelo Tsirekas	22,083	54.9
	Liberal	Helen McCaffrey	18,177	45.1
	Labor hold		Swing

Hornsby

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Hornsby ^{[17] [18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Philip Ruddock	39,325	47.8	+4.8
	Greens	Emma Heyde	15,140	18.4	+18.4
	Labor	Janelle McIntosh	12,385	15.0	+15.0
	Independent	Christine Berman	8,357	10.2	−29.9
	Independent	Mick Gallagher	7,126	8.7	−4.6
Total formal votes			82,333	97.0
Informal votes				3.0
Turnout				85.6
After distribution of preferences
	Liberal	Philip Ruddock	40,143	50.9
	Greens	Emma Heyde	15,839	20.1	+20.1
	Labor	Janelle McIntosh	13,022	16.5	+16.5
	Independent	Christine Berman	9,824	12.5
	Liberal hold		Swing

Hunter's Hill

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Hunter's Hill ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Zac Miles	3,228	40.2
	Independent	Mark Bennett	2,527	31.5
	Independent	Ross Williams	2,276	28.3
Total formal votes			8,031	96.5
Informal votes				3.5
Turnout				83.4
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Mark Bennett	3,995	54.4
	Liberal	Zac Miles	3,350	45.6
	Independent hold		Swing

Maitland

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Maitland ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Country Labor	Loretta Baker	14,674	31.4	+12.2
	Penfold Independents	Philip Penfold	13,160	28.2	+7.1
	Liberal	Bob Geoghegan	8,062	17.3	+17.3
	Greens	John Brown	2,212	4.7	−1.2
	Independent	Ken Wethered	4,546	9.7	+9.7
	Independent	Brian Burke	4,082	8.7	+8.7
Total formal votes			46,736	95.9
Informal votes				4.1
Turnout				84.2
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Country Labor	Loretta Baker	19,771	54.8
	Penfold Independents	Philip Penfold	16,277	45.2
	Country Labor gain from Independent		Swing	N/A

Mosman

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Mosman ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Serving Mosman	Carolyn Corrigan	5,928	39.9	+11.5
	Residents For Mosman	Roy Bendall	4,192	27.8	+6.4
	Independent	Simon Menzies	2,971	19.7	+6.3
	Independent	Libby Moline	1,975	13.1	+3.4
Total formal votes			15,066	95.3
Informal votes				4.7
Turnout				75.7
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Serving Mosman	Carolyn Corrigan	7,140	56.9
	Residents For Mosman	Roy Bendall	5,415	43.1
	Serving Mosman hold		Swing

Newcastle

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Newcastle ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Nuatali Nelmes	38,698	42.6	+0.3
	Independent	Kath Elliott	18,925	20.8	+20.8
	Greens	Therese Doyle	12,123	13.3	−0.7
	Liberal	David Compton (disendorsed)	11,770	12.9	+12.9
	Independent	Rod Holding	4,120	4.5	+2.7
	Independent	Ron Brown	3,354	3.7	+3.7
	Socialist Alliance	Steve O'Brien	1,909	2.1	+2.1
Total formal votes			90,899	95.2
Informal votes				4.8
Turnout				81.1
Three-candidate-preferred result
	Labor	Nuatali Nelmes	40,027	51.8	+1.0
	Independent	Kath Elliott	23,374	30.3	+30.3
	Greens	Therese Doyle	13,801	17.9	+0.6
	Labor hold		Swing	+1.0

• Changes compared with 2014 Newcastle lord mayoral by-election

North Sydney

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: North Sydney ^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jilly Gibson	13,791	42.0	+1.5
	Independent	Zoë Baker	9,856	30.0	−3.1
	Independent	Jessica Keen	6,510	19.8	+19.8
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Kong	2,655	8.1	+8.1
Total formal votes			32,812	95.4
Informal votes				4.6
Turnout				72.6
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Jilly Gibson	14,828	56.4	−0.4
	Independent	Zoë Baker	11,441	43.6	+0.4
	Independent hold		Swing	−0.4

Orange

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Orange ^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Reg Kidd	5,196	21.9	+21.9
	Independent National	Russell Turner	4,522	19.0	+19.0
	Independent	Kevin Duffy	2,926	12.3	+12.3
	Independent	Tony Mileto	2,017	8.5	+8.5
	Greens	Stephen Nugent	1,885	7.9	+7.9
	Independent	Scott Munro	1,842	7.8	+7.8
	Independent Labor	Jeff Whitton	1,717	7.2	+7.2
	Independent	Paula Townsend	1,621	6.8	+6.8
	Independent	Chris Gryllis	1,462	6.2	+6.2
	Independent	Ron Gander	576	2.4	+2.4
Total formal votes			23,764	95.4	N/A
Informal votes				4.6	N/A
Turnout				85.5	N/A
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Reg Kidd	7,159	54.1	+54.1
	Independent National	Russell Turner	6,084	45.9	+45.9
	Independent win		Swing	N/A

• This was the first time the position of mayor of Orange was directly elected
• John Davis (Independent) was the incumbent mayor, having been first elected in 2009

Port Stephens

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Port Stephens ^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ryan Palmer	15,079	35.1	+35.1
	Independent	Sally Dover	7,668	17.8	−11.3
	Independent	Geoff Dingle	6,511	15.1	−19.5
	Independent	Steve Tucker	6,072	14.1	+14.1
	Country Labor	Des Maslen	5,599	13.0	+13.0
	Independent	Peter Kafer	2,090	4.9	+4.9
Total formal votes			43,019	94.5
Informal votes				5.5
Turnout				85.0
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Independent	Ryan Palmer	18,897	63.1	+63.1
	Independent	Sally Dover	11,054	36.9	+36.9
	Independent gain from Independent		Swing	N/A

The Hills

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: The Hills ^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Michelle Byrne	53,323	61.8	+61.8
	Labor	Tony Hay	18,549	21.5	+21.5
	Independent	Jeff Lowe	9,689	11.2	+11.2
	Building Australia	Ray Brown	4,701	5.4	+5.4
Total formal votes			86,262	95.7	N/A
Informal votes				4.3	N/A
Turnout				81.7	N/A
	Liberal win		Swing	N/A

• This was the first time the position of mayor of The Hills was directly elected
• Yvonne Keane (Liberal) was the incumbent mayor, having been elected in 2016 ^[27]

Willoughby

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Willoughby ^{[28] [29]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Gail Giles-Gidney	24,713	69.5	+18.7
	Independent Liberal	Angelo Rozos	10,869	30.5	+30.5
Total formal votes			35,582	95.0	−1.3
Informal votes				5.0	+1.3
Turnout				81.0	+12.3
	Independent Liberal hold		Swing	+18.7

• Changes compared with 2014 Willoughby mayoral by-election

Wollongong

2017 New South Wales mayoral elections: Wollongong ^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wollongong Independents	Gordon Bradbery	41,581	35.2	+0.2
	Labor	David Brown	32,386	27.4	+8.1
	Liberal	John Dorahy	19,672	16.6	−6.4
	Greens	Mithra Cox	12,291	10.4	+4.7
	Independent	John Mullan	4,037	3.4	+3.4
	Independent	Vicki Curran	3,280	2.8	+0.4
	Independent	Andrew Anthony	1,708	1.4	−0.2
	Independent	Greg Petty	1,660	1.4	−0.7
	Independent	Warwick Erwin	1,590	1.3	+1.3
Total formal votes			118,205	95.2
Informal votes				4.8
Turnout				82.4
Two-candidate-preferred result
	Wollongong Independents	Gordon Bradbery	47,465	54.2
	Labor	David Brown	40,067	45.8
	Wollongong Independents hold		Swing

Notes

1. This does not include mayoralties that were won in 2016 but not up for re-election until 2021.

References

1. "Results by Local Government Area". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023.
2. "2017 NSW Local Government Elections". ABC News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023.
3. "North Sydney". ABC News.
4. "Mayor of Willoughby Pat Reilly dies". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 January 2014.
5. "Gail Giles-Gidney has beat Stuart Coppock by 288 votes in the Willoughby mayoral by-election". The Daily Telegraph. 16 April 2014.
6. "Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy quits over donations scandal". The Guardian.
7. "Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy quits before being pushed". Sydney Morning Herald.
8. "Newcastle mayoral by-election live". The Tally Room.
9. "Maitland Mayor Peter Blackmore will not run for council again". Newcastle Herald. 17 May 2017.
10. "Philip Ruddock returns to politics to run for Mayor of Hornsby amid 'negativity' within Liberal Party". ABC News. 15 August 2017. Mr Russell announced in July he would step aside and make way for Mr Ruddock to run for the office.
11. "The mayor of Port Stephens Bruce MacKenzie won't stand at September election as he calls time on local government tenure". Port Stephens Examiner. 9 August 2017.
12. "Mayor departs: Orange's long-standing leader John Davis will not re-contest the September council election". Forbes Advocate. 10 August 2017.
13. "The Hills council election, 2017". The Tally Room.
14. "Mosman Mayor Peter Abelson steps down after 13 years of service, proud of his council's continued independence". The Daily Telegraph. 1 September 2017.
15. "Burwood". ABC News.
16. "Canada Bay". ABC News.
17. "Hornsby". ABC News.
18. "Hornsby Distribution of Preferences". New South Wales Electoral Commission.
19. "Hunter's Hill". ABC News.
20. "City of Maitland". ABC News.
21. "Mosman". ABC News.
22. "City of Newcastle". ABC News.
23. "North Sydney". ABC News.
24. "City of Orange". ABC News.
25. "Port Stephens". ABC News.
26. "The Hills Shire". ABC News.
27. "Mayor Keane reflects on 'bonus year' achievements". The Hills Shire Council. 7 September 2017.
28. "City of Willoughby". ABC News.
29. Metcalfe, Caryn (30 November 2017). "Mayor endorsed by Liberals for LGNSW". Gail Giles-Gidney. North Shore Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023.
30. "City of Wollongong". ABC News.