Local government elections in New South Wales, Australia were held on 14 September 2024 to elect the councils of 127 of the 128 local government area. 37 councils also held mayoral elections, and eight councils conducted referendums.
The New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC) conducted the elections for 125 councils, while the private Australian Election Company conducted the elections for Fairfield and Liverpool. No election was held for Central Darling as the council was under administration.
Background Liverpool investigation On 26 April 2024, Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig announced an investigation into Liverpool City Council "amid ongoing reports about dysfunction and staff matters within council".
The investigation concluded on 18 July, and Hoenig announced he intended to defer Liverpool's election and suspend the council because of "widespread and serious concerns about dysfunction".
On 5 September, it was announced that the election would proceed and Hoenig backed down on his threat to suspend Liverpool City Council, awaiting the report of a further inquiry into the council's governance.
Electoral system Like at state elections, New South Wales local elections use optional preferential voting. Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidate or group, although they can choose to preference other candidates. The majority of mayors are elected by councillors at council meetings, although 37 were directly elected in 2024 (an increase from 35 in 2021).
All elections for councillor positions are elected using proportional representation. Some councils use a single ballot paper, while others have an Australian Senate-style ballot paper with above-the-line and below-the-line voting. Councils can be either undivided or be divided into wards ranging from two-member to five-member.
Voting is compulsory for anyone on the New South Wales state electoral roll. Property owners, rate-paying occupiers or lessees can apply to be on the "non-residential roll" in an LGA, as long as they are not already enrolled as a resident in that area and if they are eligible to be enrolled for state and federal elections. Voting is not compulsory for those on non-residential rolls, although it is still compulsory in the LGA where they are on the residential roll.
Business vote in Sydney
In 2014, then-Liberal premier Mike Baird introduced a law for that gave businesses that own, lease, or occupy rateable land in the City of Sydney two votes each. Voting for businesses in Sydney also became compulsory. Many critics saw the decision as an attempt by the Liberals to unseat Clover Moore as lord mayor. The business vote came into effect at the 2016 election and was again in force at the 2021 election.
Following Labor's victory at the 2023 state election, independent MP Alex Greenwich wrote to the new local government minister, Ron Hoenig, requesting that the business vote was removed.
On 13 September 2023 Hoenig formally announced that the business vote would be removed, starting at the 2024 election. Eligible people will still be able to apply to be on the non-residential roll, however only one person would now be entitled to be enrolled on behalf of non-residents − the same as all other LGAs.
Party changes before elections A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2024 elections. Council Ward Councillor Former party New party Date Snowy Valleys Unsubdivided John Larter Independent Independent Liberal Democrats 16 December 2021 Hilltops Unsubdivided Matthew Stadtmiller Independent Labor 2022 Campbelltown Unsubdivided George Brticevic Labor Independent 28 January 2022 Campbelltown Unsubdivided Margaret Chiversa Labor Independent 28 January 2022 Liverpool South Karress Rhodes Community Independents Independent 7 April 2022 Forbes Unsubdivided Steve Karaitiana Independent Shooters, Fishers, Farmers 5 May 2022 Lake Macquarie North Colin Grigg Lake Mac Independents One Nation 17 May 2022 Hay Unsubdivided Jenny Dwyer Independent Independent National 2 June 2022 Penrith North Jonathan Pullen Labor Independent 27 June 2022 Dubbo Wellington Jess Gough Ben Shields Team Independent 18 August 2022 Broken Hill Unsubdivided Dave Gallagher National Independent 23 September 2022 Hilltops Unsubdivided Matthew Stadtmiller Labor Independent 27 October 2022 Bega Valley Unsubdivded Russell Fitzpatrick Independent Liberal 24 November 2022 Port Macquarie-Hastings Mayor Peta Pinson Independent National 9 December 2022 Orange Unsubdivided Glenn Floyd Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Independent 13 December 2022 Singleton Unsubdivided Mel McLachlan Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Independent 13 December 2022 Coolamon Unsubdivided Jeremy Crocker Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Independent Unknown date Parramatta Dundas Kellie Darley Kellie Darley Independents Community Champions 28 April 2023 Blue Mountains Ward 4 Brendan Christie Liberal Independent 3 July 2023 Sydney Unsubdivided Yvonne Weldon Unite for Sydney Yvonne Weldon Independents 19 July 2023 Hawkesbury Unsubdivided Nathan Zamprogno Independent Liberal Independent 5 September 2023 Lane Cove Central Kathy Bryla Labor Independent 6 September 2023 Bega Valley Unsubdivded Russell Fitzpatrick Liberal Independent 2023 or 2024 Cessnock D Ward Paul Paynter Cessnock Independents Liberal 22 January 2024 Northern Beaches Pittwater Michael Gencher Your Northern Beaches Liberal 28 January 2024 Cumberland Greystanes Eddy Sarkis Our Local Community Independent February 2024 Strathfield Unsubdivided Sandy Reddy Strathfield Independents Liberal 27 February 2024 Nambucca Valley Unsubdivided David Jones Independent 28 June 2024 Campbelltown Unsubdivided Josh Cotter Community First Team 11 July 2024 Campbelltown Unsubdivided Warren Morrison Totally Locally Committed 11 July 2024 Snowy Valleys Unsubdivided John Larter Independent Libertarian Libertarian 17 July 2024 Gunnedah Unsubdivided Jamie Chaffey Independent Independent National 5 August 2024
Political parties The following registered parties contested the local elections: Animal Justice Party Greens Labor Party Liberal Party Libertarian Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party The Small Business Party Socialist Alliance Sustainable Australia Party
In addition, a number of local government-registered parties also contested.
Candidates A total of 3,889 candidates contested the elections for both mayoral and councillor positions. Of that, 1,635 candidates were contesting councillor and mayoral positions in Greater Sydney LGAs. Candidate nominations closed at midday on 14 August 2024.
The Greens had 376 councillor candidates and 22 mayoral candidates. More than 50 candidates were from a Hellenic background.
Liberal Party missed deadline On the day that nominations closed, the Liberal Party revealed they had missed the deadline to nominate 164 candidates in 16 different LGAs. The error was described by Liberal leader Mark Speakman as "probably the worst act of mismanagement" in the party's history.
One day later, on 15 August 2024, the Liberal Party state executive resolved to terminate the employment of its state director, Richard Shields. Shields said party president Don Harwin volunteered to run the nomination process so he could maintain his focus on the next federal election.
Harwin requested that the NSWEC reopened nominations for another seven days, but his request was denied. The party then briefly considered taking legal action against the NSWEC, but ultimately decided against doing so.
Campaign The Libertarian Party campaigned on ending "woke agendas", "smart cities", and cutting council rates, and the party was given a higher chance of winning in areas where the Liberal Party had failed to nominate candidates. This was the party's largest-ever local elections campaign.
In Cumberland, Our Local Community (OLC) pledged to ban Welcome to Country and smoking ceremonies if elected to a majority. Shoalhaven Independents Group pledged to re-introduce Australia Day Awards and citizenship ceremonies on 26 January if the party gained control of Shoalhaven City Council.
Housing Housing was seen as a significant issue in the elections, especially in Greater Sydney. Senior officials in the state government were reportedly "bracing for unpredictable election results" that would threaten the housing policies of the Labor government.
Israel–Gaza war The Gaza war was the subject of campaigning in the local elections. Advocacy group Better Council targeted Greens candidates in the LGAs of Inner West, Randwick, Waverley and Woollahra over the party's "[focus] on radicalism". The group's spokesperson is Sophie Calland, a member of the Labor Party.
Another group, called "We Vote For Palestine", asked candidates to sign their pledge, which included supporting a ceasefire and divesting from Israel.
A number of Labor and Liberal campaign signs in Inner West Council were vandalised with "Boycott Israel" and "This Candidate Votes For Genocide" stickers.
Results
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change Independents 1,386,557 32.57 −0.16 722 54 Labor 1,107,839 26.02 −0.65 162 26 Liberal 750,296 17.62 +0.10 110 17 Greens 411,999 9.68 +0.84 73 8 Libertarian 87,056 2.04 +1.93 10 10 Your Northern Beaches 71,095 1.67 +0.52 7 1 Independent Liberal 44,647 1.05 −1.33 16 8 Our Local Community 42,834 1.01 −0.80 5 5 Independent National 36,336 0.85 +0.45 37 28 Shoalhaven Independents Group 30,231 0.71 +0.03 6 2 Dai Le 30,052 0.71 +0.24 3 Lake Mac Independents 28,530 0.67 +0.05 3 Clover Moore Independent Team 28,201 0.66 −0.43 3 1 24,839 0.58 +0.17 5 1 Community Voice of Australia 23,222 0.55 +0.55 3 3 17,494 0.41 +0.41 3 3 15,634 0.37 +0.13 0 1 Independent Labor 14,362 0.34 +0.26 16 15 13,865 0.33 +0.15 1 1 Community Champions 12,735 0.30 +0.30 1 1 Peaceful Bayside 11,536 0.27 +0.27 2 2 Shooters, Fishers and Farmers 10,619 0.25 −0.05 4 1 Residents First Woollahra 9,393 0.22 −0.05 5 Yvonne Weldon Independents 8,144 0.19 +0.19 1 1 Liverpool Community Independents Team 7,547 0.18 −0.09 1 1 Serving Mosman 7,062 0.17 0.00 3 1 Central Coast Heart 3,799 0.09 +0.09 0 Lorraine Wearne Independents 3,722 0.09 −0.15 1 Australia Multinational Unity Inc 3,715 0.09 +0.09 0 Small Business 3,474 0.08 −0.22 1 Strathfield Independents 3,401 0.08 −0.02 1 1 Battler 1,848 0.04 +0.04 0 Socialist Alliance 1,691 0.04 −0.03 0 Australian Christians 1,585 0.04 +0.04 0 Australian Democrats 967 0.02 +0.02 0 Independent One Nation 757 0.02 +0.02 0 241 0.01 +0.01 0 Public Education Party 82 0.00 +0.00 0 Independent United Australia 1 1 Formal votes 4,257,457 Registered voters / turnout
Council totals