Paul Benedek

Controversial decisions by the state Labor government to forcibly amalgamate several councils dominated the March 27 NSW council election.

In the City of Sydney lord mayoral contest, the thinly veiled ALP manoeuver to gain Labor control of Town Hall through the amalgamation of Sydney and South Sydney councils backfired. Independent state member of parliament Clover Moore claimed victory on election night. According to the March 28 Sun-Herald, she had 39% of the vote when counting ceased that night.

Michael Lee, the ALP’s mayoral candidate who was parachuted in by the state ALP machine, was on just 25% of the vote. He was opposed by most candidates and had been locked out of most preference deals. His face on election campaign placards across the city was graffitied with “sponsored by Multiplex” and other slogans reflecting opposition to the ALP’s pro-developer, anti-people policies.

Moore’s campaign was based on strong opposition to the forced amalgamation, support for community consultation, protection of Sydney foreshore and progressive social policies such as gay and lesbian rights, the liberalisation of drug laws and pro-environment policies.

Moore’s independent team will have four other councillors, and strong results for the Greens make a Moore-Greens council administration possible. Moore immediately pledged that the interests of the community will be placed ahead of developers.

The Greens' candidate for Sydney mayor, Chris Harris, was on 12% at the close of counting on election night. According to the March 28 Sun-Herald, Greens campaign organiser Sylvia Hale said the Greens look set to almost double their council representation across NSW, from 28 to more than 50 councillors. ABC Online reported on March 28 that the Greens candidate may win the close race for mayor of Byron Bay.

The Socialist Alliance, whose results were not available on March 28, ran its first ever NSW council campaign, contesting 24 council positions and four mayoral positions across 10 councils.

From Green Left Weekly, March 31, 2004.
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