2024 Georges River Council election

2024 Georges River Council election

←  2021 14 September 2024 2028 →
All 15 seats on Georges River Council 8 seats needed for a majority
Registered	96,882 [1]
Turnout	86.1%
First party Second party Third party   R&R Party Labor GRRRP Liberal Last election 5 seats 4 seats 5 seats Seats before 5 4 3 Seats won 6 5 3 Seat change 1 1 Primary  vote 30,247 24,389 16,281 Percentage 39.1% 31.5% 21.0% Swing 6.7 10.1 8.0

The 2024 Georges River Council election was held on 14 September 2024 to elect 15 councillors to the Georges River Council. ^[2] The election was held as part of the statewide local government elections in New South Wales. ^[3]

The Labor Party won six seats, two short of a majority, while the Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Party (GRRRP) won five. ^[4] The Liberal Party won three seats but lost 8% of its council-wide vote, owing to a missed candidate nomination deadline which prevented some of its councillors from recontesting. ^[5]

Background

Blakehurst Ward councillor Sam Elmir and Mortdale Ward councillor Nick Smerdely were expelled from the Liberal Party in December 2022. ^[6]

Two Labor councillors – Warren Tegg (Mortdale) and Kevin Greene (Peakhurst) – resigned at various points in 2022 and were replaced by Ashvini Ambihaipahar and Veronica Ficarra respectively following countbacks. ^[2]

Electoral system

Like in all other New South Wales local government areas (LGAs), Georges River Council elections use optional preferential voting. ^[7] Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidate or group, although they can choose to preference other candidates. ^[8]

All elections for councillor positions are elected using proportional representation. ^[9] Georges River has an Australian Senate-style ballot paper with above-the-line and below-the-line voting. ^[10] The council is divided into five wards, each electing three councillors. ^[2]

The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC). ^{[11] [12]}

Retiring councillors

Independents

• Sam Elmir (Blakehurst) ^[2]
• Nick Smerdely (Mortdale) – announced 9 August 2024 ^[13]

Candidates

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. ^{[14] [15]} This included all Liberal candidates in Mortdale Ward and Peakhurst Ward. ^{[16] [17]}

This was the only council contested by the Public Education Party in 2024. ^[18]

Blakehurst

Labor (Group A)	Liberal (Group B)	GRRRP (Group C)
Kathryn Landsberry Anastasia Polites Sarina Foulstone	Oliver Dimoski James Brown Elizabeth Taylor	Natalie Mort Nicole Hawick Mary Cassimatis

Hurstville

GRRRP (Group A)	GRA (Group B)	Liberal (Group C)	Labor (Group D)
Bob Jones Max Brightwell Rachel Zhang	Ben Wang Rhanda Taouk Kamal Sigdel Jun Qi	Nancy Liu Rahul Nand Binjie Lu	Leon Pun Jenny Vu David Crewdson

Kogarah Bay

Labor (Group A)	Liberal (Group B)	KRA (Group C)	Libertarian (Group D)	GRRRP (Group E)
Thomas Gao Emilija Beljic Mike Warner	Sam Stratikopoulos Bingxing Sheng James Skibinski	Leesha Payor Petra Herzog Vicki Poole	Vicky Nicodemou Sophia Constantine Sandra Bremner	Sandra Bremner Heidi Breeze Christopher Tofalakis

Mortdale

Labor (Group A)	GRRRP (Group B)	Ungrouped
Ash Ambihaipahar Tom Arthur Gerard Hayes	Christina Jamieson Alexandra Fleming Deborah Mackie	Peter Eccleston (Greens) Christian Stojkov (Ind) Glen Stelzer (PEP)

Peakhurst

Labor (Group A)	GRRRP (Group B)
Elaina Anzellotti Karno Gangopadhyay Peter Gayton	Peter Mahoney Matthew Allison Sonia Baxant

Withdrawn candidates

Party		Candidate	Ward	Details
	Liberal	Andrew Ng	Mortdale	Candidate unable to contest because of missed nomination deadline. [19]
	Liberal	Lou Konjarski	Peakhurst	Incumbent councillor unable to recontest because of missed candidacy deadline. [19]

Results

Ward results

2024 Georges River Council election: Ward results

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor		30,247	39.06	+6.66	6	1
	Residents and Ratepayers		24,389	31.49	+10.09	5	1
	Liberal		16,281	21.02	−7.98	3	2
	Georges River Association		3,607	4.66	+1.96	1
	Kogarah Residents' Association		1,065	1.38	+1.38	0
	Libertarian		553	0.71	+0.71	0
	Greens		474	0.61	+0.61	0
	Public Education		82	0.11	+0.11	0
	Independents		741	0.96	−12.34	0
Formal votes			77,439	92.9
Informal votes			5,928	7.1
Total			83,367	100.0		15
Registered voters / turnout			96,882	86.1

Blakehurst

2024 Georges River Council election: Blakehurst Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	1. Oliver Dimoski (elected 1) 2. James Brown 3. Elizabeth Taylor	7,030	43.38	+11.68
	Labor	1. Kathryn Landsberry (elected 2) 2. Anastasia Polites 3. Sarina Foulstone	4,888	30.16	+5.56
	Residents and Ratepayers	1. Natalie Mort (elected 3) 2. Nicole Hawick 3. Mary Cassimatis	4,289	26.46	−0.04
Total formal votes			16,207	95.37
Informal votes			787	4.63
Turnout			16,994	86.46

Hurstville

2024 Georges River Council election: Hurstville Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Leon Pun (elected 1) 2. Jenny Vu 3. Jenny Crewdson	4,879	32.88	+2.68
	Liberal	1. Nancy Liu (elected 2) 2. Rahul Nand 3. Binjie Lu	4,167	28.08	+3.88
	Georges River Association	1. Ben Wang (elected 3) 2. Rhanda Taouk 3. Kamal Sigdel 4. Jun Qi	3,607	24.31	+10.11
	Residents and Ratepayers	1. Bob Jones 2. Max Brightwell 3. Rachel Zhang	2,185	14.73	+3.83
Total formal votes			14,838	92.08
Informal votes			1,276	7.92
Turnout			16,114	86.09

Kogarah Bay

2024 Georges River Council election: Kogarah Bay Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Thomas Gao (elected 1) 2. Emilija Beljic 3. Mike Warner	6,557	40.54	+11.04
	Liberal	1. Sam Stratikopoulos (elected 2) 2. Bingxing Sheng 3. James Skibinski	5,084	31.43	+8.23
	Residents and Ratepayers	1. Elise Borg (elected 3) 2. Heidi Breeze 3. Christopher Tofalakis	2,916	18.03	−5.27
	Kogarah Residents' Association	1. Leesha Payor 2. Petra Herzog 3. Vicki Poole	1,065	6.58	+0.78
	Libertarian	1. Vicky Nicodemou 2. Sophia Constantine 3. Sandra Bremner	553	3.42	+3.42
Total formal votes			16,175	92.83
Informal votes			1,250	7.17
Turnout			17,425	84.61

Mortdale

2024 Georges River Council election: Mortdale Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	1. Ash Ambihaipahar (elected 1) 2. Tom Arthur (elected 3) 3. Gerard Hayes	6,723	47.18	+ 12.18
	Residents and Ratepayers	1. Christina Jamieson (elected 2) 2. Alexandra Fleming 3. Deborah Mackie	6,229	43.72	+22.62
	Independent	Christian Stojkov	741	5.20	+4.6
	Greens	Peter Eccleston	474	3.33	+3.33
	Public Education	Glen Stelzer	82	0.58	+0.58
Total formal votes			14,249	92.03
Informal votes			1,234	7.97
Turnout			15,483	86.33

Peakhurst

2024 Georges River Council election: Peakhurst Ward

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Residents and Ratepayers	1. Peter Mahoney (elected 1) 2. Matthew Allison (elected 3) 3. Sonia Baxant	8,770	54.92	+30.42
	Labor	1. Elaina Anzellotti (elected 2) 2. Karno Gangopadhyay 3. Peter Gayton	7,200	45.08	+2.58
Total formal votes			15,970	92.04
Informal votes			1,381	7.96
Turnout			17,351	86.85

References

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2. "Georges River council election, 2024". The Tally Room. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
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4. Trembath, Murray (6 October 2024). "New councils unveiled: Georges River and Bayside election results finalised". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Archived from the original on 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
5. "Election Results Declared: A Huge Win for GRRRP!". Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Party. 6 October 2025. Archived from the original on 14 March 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
6. Demetriadi, Alexi (13 February 2023). "NSW Liberal Party councillors, staffers expelled from party after investigation into alleged branch stacking". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
7. "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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. "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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. Smerdely, Nick [@clrnicksmerdely] (9 August 2024). "As many of you are already aware, I'm not recontesting for Georges River Council at the upcoming election" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025– via Twitter.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. "NSW Liberal council election blunder: Georges River, Canterbury-Bankstown impacted". The Greek Herald. 16 August 2024. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
17. Pike, Elizabeth (30 August 2024). "Georges River Council 2024: Meet the candidates running in this year's election". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
18. Gainsford, Jim (27 August 2024). "Public Education priority for candidate for Georges River's Mortdale Ward". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Archived from the original on 31 August 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
19. Pike, Elizabeth (15 August 2024). "Georges River Mortdale, Peakhurst Wards to miss Liberal candidates in local election". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.