Marrickville Council 'Barrymandered'

Peter Boyle, Sydney

At a raucous meeting on December 15, the ALP-controlled Marrickville Council, in inner-suburban Sydney, rammed through a proposal to bolster the ALP's chances of keeping control after the March 27 local elections.

By increasing the number of electoral wards from three to four and to reducing the number of councillors elected from each ward from four to three, smaller parties and independents chances of re-election will be reduced. There are currently three Green and two independent councillors.

Greens councillors have branded this a "Barrymander" — referring to ALP Marrickville mayor Barry Cotter.

The ward decision followed a farcical "community consultation".

After minimal publicity of the proposed ward changes, by December 8, the council had received one submission in favour of the ward changes and 38 submissions and 1100 signatures against.

Then, in the next four days before the end of the consultation process, 656 pro-forma letters in support of the changes came in. Most of these were in the names of former or current ALP members. However, several have been found to have been forged and statutory declarations are being collected from people whose signatures were forged.

Greens councillor and NSW Legislative Council member Sylvia Hale told Green Left Weekly that she had spoken to one outraged ex-ALP member (who had resigned in disgust at the ALP's refugee policy) that he was out of the country when he was supposed to have signed a submission in favour of the ward changes.

Hale believes that the matter is being investigated by Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Pip Hinman, a local resident and Socialist Alliance member who attended the December 15 council meeting, said that the ALP councillors displayed "gross disregard for basic democracy" on this matter.

"ALP councillors ignored local residents who came to the meeting to express their objections to the changes", Hinman said. "A gang of their supporters in the gallery abused and heckled the Greens councillors when they spoke. They even accused the Greens of organising the fraudulent submissions to embarrass the ALP."

She said that the Marrickville branch of the Socialist Alliance would soon select candidates for the council elections and that "Barrymander" would be one of the issues the alliance would campaign around.

From Green Left Weekly, January 28, 2004.

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From GLW issue 568