2024 Blue Mountains City Council election

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election

←  2021 14 September 2024 2028 →
All 12 seats on Blue Mountains City Council 7 seats needed for a majority
Registered	60,045 [1]
Turnout	84.1%
First party Second party Third party   IND Leader Mark Greenhill N/A N/A Party Labor Greens Independents Leader's seat Ward 4 N/A N/A Last election 6 seats 2 seats 1 seat Seats before 6 2 1 Seats won 9 2 1 Seat change 3 Primary  vote 29,052 11,000 4,329 Percentage 63.9% 24.2% 9.5% Swing 14.7 9.3 2.3
Results by ward

The 2024 Blue Mountains City Council election was held on 14 September 2024 to elect twelve councillors to the City of Blue Mountains. ^[2] The election was held as part of the statewide local government elections in New South Wales. ^[3]

The Labor Party gained an outright majority, winning nine seats. ^[4] The Liberal Party lost all two seats it held prior to the election, owing to a missed candidate nomination deadline which prevented its councillors from recontesting. ^[5]

Background

Ward 2 councillor Brendan Christie resigned from the Liberal Party on 3 July 2023. ^[6] He resigned as a councillor less than two months later and his seat was left vacant until the election. ^[7]

Electoral system

Like in all other New South Wales local government areas (LGAs), Blue Mountains City Council elections use optional preferential voting. ^[8] Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidate or group, although they can choose to preference other candidates. ^[9]

All elections for councillor positions are elected using proportional representation. ^[10] Lake Macquarie has an Australian Senate-style ballot paper with above-the-line and below-the-line voting. ^[11] The council is divided into four wards, each electing three councillors. ^[2]

The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC). ^{[12] [13]}

Retiring councillors

Liberal

• Kevin Schreiber (Ward 1) – announced 24 July 2024 ^[14]

Candidates

Sarah Redshaw (Greens councillor for Ward 1) and Joaquim De Lima (Libertarian candidate for Ward 2)

On 14 August 2024, the day that candidates nominations closed, the Liberal Party revealed they had missed the deadline to nominate 164 candidates in 16 different LGAs. ^{[15] [16]} This included all Liberal councillors seeking re-election to Blue Mountains City Council. ^{[17] [18]}

Ward 1

Greens (Group A)	Labor (Group B)
Sarah Redshaw Melanie-Ann Turner Kathleen Herbert	Suzie van Opdorp Suzanne Jamieson David Forbes

Ward 2

Labor (Group A)	Greens (Group B)	Ungrouped
Romola Hollywood Claire West Paul Gannon	Brent Hoare Jenna Condie Sandra Warn	Joaquim De Lima (LP)

Ward 3

Independent (Group A)	Greens (Group B)	Labor (Group C)
Daniel Myles Shawn Hull Jakalin Hull	Sarah O'Carrigan Angelika Treichler Michael Ord	Darren Rodrigo Mick Fell Ramona Kennedy

Ward 4

Labor (Group A)	Greens (Group B)
Mark Greenhill Nyree Fisher Margaret Buckham	William Gruner Jennifer Brown Noel Willis

Withdrawn candidates

Party		Candidate	Ward	Details
	Liberal	Rita Fisher	Ward 1	Candidate unable to contest because of missed nomination deadline. [14]
	Liberal	Sophie Bruce	Ward 2	Candidate unable to contest because of missed nomination deadline. [14]
	Liberal	Roza Sage	Ward 3	Incumbent councillor unable to recontest because of missed candidacy deadline. [14]
	Liberal	Kieran Best	Ward 4	Candidate unable to contest because of missed nomination deadline. [14]
	Greens	Hayley Stone	Ward 3	Withdrew because of personal reasons. [19]

Results

Ward results

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election: Ward results

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		29,052	63.9	+14.7	9	3
	Greens		11,000	24.2	+9.3	2
	Independents		4,329	9.5	−2.3	1
	Libertarian		1,082	2.4	+2.4	0
Formal votes			45,463	90.0	−6.5
Informal votes			5,049	10.0	+6.5
Total			50,512	100.0
Registered voters / turnout			60,045	84.1

Ward 1

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election: Ward 1

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Suzie van Opdorp (elected 2) 2. Suzanne Jamieson (elected 3) 3. David Forbes	6,629	61.7	+15.3
	Greens	1. Sarah Redshaw (elected 1) 2. Melanie-Ann Turner 3. Kathleen Herbert	4,119	38.3	+9.7
Total formal votes			10,748	88.3	−7.5
Informal votes			1,418	11.7	+7.5
Turnout			12,166	80.5	−2.1

Ward 2

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election: Ward 2

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Romola Hollywood (elected 1) 2. Claire West (elected 2) 3. Paul Gannon	8,315	68.0	+20.4
	Greens	1. Brent Hoare (elected 3) 2. Jenna Condie 3. Sandra Warn	2,828	23.1	+6.1
	Libertarian	Joaquim De Lima	1,082	8.9	+8.9
Total formal votes			12,225	90.4	−5.9
Informal votes			1,299	9.6	+5.9
Turnout			13,524	86.9	−1.5

Ward 3

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election: Ward 3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Darren Rodrigo (elected 2) 2. Mick Fell (elected 3) 3. Ramona Kennedy	4,329	46.3	+15.5
	Independent	1. Daniel Myles (elected 1) 2. Shawn Hull 3. Jakalin Hull	4,329	34.9	+19.2
	Greens	1. Sarah O'Carrigan 2. Angelika Treichler 3. Michael Ord	2,335	18.8	+3.7
Total formal votes			12,409	92.8	−3.9
Informal votes			969	7.2	+3.9
Turnout			13,378	89.8	+1.4

Ward 4

2024 Blue Mountains City Council election: Ward 4

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Mark Greenhill (elected 1) 2. Nyree Fisher (elected 2) 3. Margaret Buckham (elected 3)	9,779	85.1	+20.6
	Greens	1. William Gruner 2. Jennifer Brown 3. Noel Willis	1,718	14.9	+14.9
Total formal votes			11,497	89.4	−7.6
Informal votes			1,363	10.6	+7.6
Turnout			12,860	88.9	−0.3

References

1. "Report on the administration of the 2024 NSW Local Government elections (Part 2)" (PDF). New South Wales Electoral Commission. 14 March 2025. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 September 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
2. Curtin, Jennie (15 August 2024). "Voters face streamlined council ballot paper without Liberals". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 1 October 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
3. Segaert, Anthony (12 September 2024). "Everything you need to know about local council elections". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 November 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
4. Madigan, Damien (1 October 2024). "Labor hits all time high as final Blue Mountains council election results revealed". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
5. "2024 Local Government Elections Brief" (PDF). Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue. 1 October 2024. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
6. Madigan, Damien (24 August 2023). "Blue Mountains City Councillor Brendan Christie resigns from Liberal Party". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
7. "Councillor Christie steps down from Blue Mountains City Council's governing body". Blue Mountains City Council. 25 August 2023. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
8. "How votes are counted in a local government election". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
9. Strong, Lynne (20 August 2024). "How the preference system works in NSW Local Government Elections". The Bugle News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
10. Raue, Ben (29 October 2021). "The many party systems of NSW councils". The Tally Room. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
11. "NSW Local Government Elections Website". Antony Green's Election Blog. 22 November 2021. Archived from the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
12. Ibrahim, Tony (1 September 2024). "Why Fairfield and Liverpool are the only councils in New South Wales to use a private contractor for their elections". ABC News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
13. Maddison, Max (20 September 2024). "'A Labor Party hit job': Fury at move to outlaw private companies running council elections". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
14. "Liberal Party announces team standing for council elections". Blue Mountains Gazette. 24 July 2024. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
15. Maddison, Max; Smith, Alexandra; Gorrey, Megan (14 August 2024). "NSW Liberals in chaos as party fails to nominate council candidates". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
16. Holmes, Dan (18 August 2024). "NSW Electoral Commission refuses Liberal Party extension". The Mandarin. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
17. Madigan, Damien (15 August 2024). "'Quite devastating': Liberal Party bungle leaves Blue Mountains council candidates out in the cold". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
18. McLeod, Catie (15 August 2024). "'Shocked and gutted': NSW Liberal councillors mull legal action against own party over administrative disaster". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 June 2025. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
19. Madigan, Damien (17 June 2024). "Greens candidate defends living outside ward he hopes to represent". Blue Mountains Gazette. Archived from the original on 28 October 2024. Retrieved 22 December 2025.