Biggest council grouping will be Your Northern Beaches
The failure of the Liberal Party to nominate any of its candidates has created a power vacuum grabbed by former mayor Sue Heins’ party, Your Northern Beaches Independent Team (YNB).
YNB previously had four positions on council, with the Liberals six. Subject to declaration of the polls, YNB will have at least seven, possibly eight spots, putting them in a commanding position to take out the mayoral race on 8 October.
Sue Heins, who has served on the current and previous Warringah Council for 12 years, told PL she would be nominating as mayor. Ms Heins said that as her previous terms were short, she was not in a position to change too much. But if re-elected, she had plans to address the new NSW planning laws and long-term council budgets. A deficit for the council has already been forecast, with a possible rate rise on the cards. As for whether Ms Heins supported this, she said: “I think it depends on what the best outcome for the area would be.
“When a new council starts, you revisit the community strategic plan to make sure that your budgets line up with (councillors’) priorities.”
Ms Heins said she brought experience from many geographical regions of the beaches. “I’m very aware of the different viewpoints and challenges in each of the different wards. So I think I can bring a very high-level strategic view.”
As for who will nominate for deputy, Good for Manly’s Candy Bingham, who has also done a 12-year stint on Beaches councils and is likely to be re-elected, is thought to be keen. All punters are waiting for the distribution of preferences at the end of the month before showing their hand. It does seem likely that the new council will have either seven or eight new faces, including YNB’s Joeline Hackman in Curl Curl, who ran unsuccessfully for the state seat of Manly last year, nonetheless polling well against Liberal MP James Griffin.
The count in Frenchs Forest is on a knife’s edge, with 20-year-old Ethan Hrnjak of the Greens on the precipice of election, which would be a first for the party in that ward. In Manly, with YNB and Good for Manly sure to secure two spots, it is a three-way fight for third position between those parties and the Greens. Northern Beaches Greens convenor Evan Turner said the party was ‘optimistic’ Bonnie Harvey, 22, would get elected.
The new mayor and deputy will be elected at an extra-ordinary meeting of council on 8 October.