Mayoral contests ones to watch
There’s one thing for certain about the upcoming council elections on the Lower North Shore. After 14 September, there will be new faces in chambers across Mosman, North Sydney and Willoughby once the election battles are over.
The most significant change will be that long-standing Mosman Mayor Carolyn Corrigan is not re-contesting her position, but will run as a councillor. First elected in 2012, then as popularly elected mayor in 2017, Ms Corrigan saw off an amalgamation attempt with North Sydney, and fought to keep a nursing home off Middle Head.
Mayor Corrigan told NL that ‘safeguarding our independence, implementing our environment protection and sustainability initiatives and leading a collegiate and highly effective council’ were her three-proudest achievements. “Our collective love for Mosman guaranteed my mayoral terms to be an honour and privilege I will forever cherish.”
Mosman has long been free of party politics, but this year, the Australian Greens and the ALP will run their first ever declared candidates, in a bid to unseat the stranglehold of Mayor Corrigan’s Serving Mosman ticket.
The failure of the Liberals to nominate 140 candidates across NSW has affected four people who were set to run in North Sydney, but the party has at least one ticket in the Cammeraygal ward, the first time it is endorsing candidates in many years. Team Jilly is running again – without namesake Jilly Gibson, who, after 25 years in local politics, is finally calling time on council. Ms Gibson was the last popularly elected mayor of North Sydney, from 2012 to 2021, and oversaw the introduction of outdoor dining in Kirribilli.
In North Sydney, there will be at least three new faces on council, with the retirement of Ian Mutton after 14 years, Georgia Lamb off overseas, and her former party colleague, William Bourke, dropping to an unwinnable position on the Sustainable Australia Party ticket.
In Willoughby, four candidates are seeking to unseat mayor Tanya Taylor after her first term, with pundits saying it is a three-horse race with fellow councillors Anna Greco and Roy McCullagh. Out of a council of 13, Brendon Zhu is the only one hanging up the reins.
Voting is compulsory for all Australians aged 18 and over, and postal voting applications are open until 9 September on the NSW Electoral Commission website.
