2024 Georges River Council election

2024 Georges River Council election
14 September 2024
All 15 seats on Georges River Council
8 seats needed for a majority
Registered96,882[1]
Turnout86.1%
  First party Second party Third party
 
R&R
Party Labor GRRRP Liberal
Last election 5 seats 4 seats 5 seats
Seats before 5 4 3
Seats won 6 5 3
Seat change 1 1
Primary vote 30,247 24,389 16,281
Percentage 39.1% 31.5% 21.0%
Swing 6.7 10.1 8.0

The 2024 Georges River Council election was held on 14 September 2024 to elect 15 councillors to the Georges River Council.[2] The election was held as part of the statewide local government elections in New South Wales.[3]

The Labor Party won six seats, two short of a majority, while the Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Party (GRRRP) won five.[4] The Liberal Party won three seats but lost 8% of its council-wide vote, owing to a missed candidate nomination deadline which prevented some of its councillors from recontesting.[5]

Background

Blakehurst Ward councillor Sam Elmir and Mortdale Ward councillor Nick Smerdely were expelled from the Liberal Party in December 2022.[6]

Two Labor councillors – Warren Tegg (Mortdale) and Kevin Greene (Peakhurst) – resigned at various points in 2022 and were replaced by Ashvini Ambihaipahar and Veronica Ficarra respectively following countbacks.[2]

Electoral system

Like in all other New South Wales local government areas (LGAs), Georges River Council elections use optional preferential voting.[7] Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidate or group, although they can choose to preference other candidates.[8]

All elections for councillor positions are elected using proportional representation.[9] Georges River has an Australian Senate-style ballot paper with above-the-line and below-the-line voting.[10] The council is divided into five wards, each electing three councillors.[2]

The election was conducted by the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC).[11][12]

Retiring councillors

Independents

Candidates

On 14 August 2024, the day that candidates nominations closed, the Liberal Party revealed they had missed the deadline to nominate 164 candidates in 16 different LGAs.[14][15] This included all Liberal candidates in Mortdale Ward and Peakhurst Ward.[16][17]

This was the only council contested by the Public Education Party in 2024.[18]

Blakehurst

Hurstville

Kogarah Bay

Mortdale

Peakhurst

Withdrawn candidates

Party Candidate Ward Details
Liberal Andrew Ng Mortdale Candidate unable to contest because of missed nomination deadline.[19]
Liberal Lou Konjarski Peakhurst Incumbent councillor unable to recontest because of missed candidacy deadline.[19]

Results

Ward results

2024 Georges River Council election: Ward results
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 30,247 39.06 +6.66 6 1
  Residents and Ratepayers 24,389 31.49 +10.09 5 1
  Liberal 16,281 21.02 −7.98 3 2
  Georges River Association 3,607 4.66 +1.96 1
  Kogarah Residents' Association 1,065 1.38 +1.38 0
  Libertarian 553 0.71 +0.71 0
  Greens 474 0.61 +0.61 0
  Public Education 82 0.11 +0.11 0
  Independents 741 0.96 −12.34 0
 Formal votes 77,439 92.9
 Informal votes 5,928 7.1
 Total 83,367 100.0 15
 Registered voters / turnout 96,882 86.1

Blakehurst

2024 Georges River Council election: Blakehurst Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal 1. Oliver Dimoski (elected 1)
2. James Brown
3. Elizabeth Taylor 		7,030 43.38 +11.68
Labor 1. Kathryn Landsberry (elected 2)
2. Anastasia Polites
3. Sarina Foulstone 		4,888 30.16 +5.56
Residents and Ratepayers 1. Natalie Mort (elected 3)
2. Nicole Hawick
3. Mary Cassimatis 		4,289 26.46 −0.04
Total formal votes 16,207 95.37
Informal votes 787 4.63
Turnout 16,994 86.46

Hurstville

2024 Georges River Council election: Hurstville Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor 1. Leon Pun (elected 1)
2. Jenny Vu
3. Jenny Crewdson 		4,879 32.88 +2.68
Liberal 1. Nancy Liu (elected 2)
2. Rahul Nand
3. Binjie Lu 		4,167 28.08 +3.88
Georges River Association 1. Ben Wang (elected 3)
2. Rhanda Taouk
3. Kamal Sigdel
4. Jun Qi 		3,607 24.31 +10.11
Residents and Ratepayers 1. Bob Jones
2. Max Brightwell
3. Rachel Zhang 		2,185 14.73 +3.83
Total formal votes 14,838 92.08
Informal votes 1,276 7.92
Turnout 16,114 86.09

Kogarah Bay

2024 Georges River Council election: Kogarah Bay Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor 1. Thomas Gao (elected 1)
2. Emilija Beljic
3. Mike Warner 		6,557 40.54 +11.04
Liberal 1. Sam Stratikopoulos (elected 2)
2. Bingxing Sheng
3. James Skibinski 		5,084 31.43 +8.23
Residents and Ratepayers 1. Elise Borg (elected 3)
2. Heidi Breeze
3. Christopher Tofalakis 		2,916 18.03 −5.27
Kogarah Residents' Association 1. Leesha Payor
2. Petra Herzog
3. Vicki Poole 		1,065 6.58 +0.78
Libertarian 1. Vicky Nicodemou
2. Sophia Constantine
3. Sandra Bremner 		553 3.42 +3.42
Total formal votes 16,175 92.83
Informal votes 1,250 7.17
Turnout 17,425 84.61

Mortdale

2024 Georges River Council election: Mortdale Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labor 1. Ash Ambihaipahar (elected 1)
2. Tom Arthur (elected 3)
3. Gerard Hayes 		6,723 47.18 + 12.18
Residents and Ratepayers 1. Christina Jamieson (elected 2)
2. Alexandra Fleming
3. Deborah Mackie 		6,229 43.72 +22.62
Independent Christian Stojkov 741 5.20 +4.6
Greens Peter Eccleston 474 3.33 +3.33
Public Education Glen Stelzer 82 0.58 +0.58
Total formal votes 14,249 92.03
Informal votes 1,234 7.97
Turnout 15,483 86.33

Peakhurst

2024 Georges River Council election: Peakhurst Ward
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Residents and Ratepayers 1. Peter Mahoney (elected 1)
2. Matthew Allison (elected 3)
3. Sonia Baxant 		8,770 54.92 +30.42
Labor 1. Elaina Anzellotti (elected 2)
2. Karno Gangopadhyay
3. Peter Gayton 		7,200 45.08 +2.58
Total formal votes 15,970 92.04
Informal votes 1,381 7.96
Turnout 17,351 86.85

References

  1. ^ "Report on the administration of the 2024 NSW Local Government elections (Part 2)" (PDF). New South Wales Electoral Commission. 14 March 2025. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 September 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "Georges River council election, 2024". The Tally Room. Archived from the original on 2 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  3. ^ Segaert, Anthony (12 September 2024). "Everything you need to know about local council elections". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 November 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  4. ^ Trembath, Murray (6 October 2024). "New councils unveiled: Georges River and Bayside election results finalised". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Archived from the original on 17 December 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  5. ^ "Election Results Declared: A Huge Win for GRRRP!". Georges River Residents and Ratepayers Party. 6 October 2025. Archived from the original on 14 March 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  6. ^ Demetriadi, Alexi (13 February 2023). "NSW Liberal Party councillors, staffers expelled from party after investigation into alleged branch stacking". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  7. ^ "How votes are counted in a local government election". New South Wales Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  8. ^ Strong, Lynne (20 August 2024). "How the preference system works in NSW Local Government Elections". The Bugle News. Archived from the original on 13 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  9. ^ Raue, Ben (29 October 2021). "The many party systems of NSW councils". The Tally Room. Archived from the original on 2 April 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  10. ^ "NSW Local Government Elections Website". Antony Green's Election Blog. 22 November 2021. Archived from the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  11. ^ Ibrahim, Tony (1 September 2024). "Why Fairfield and Liverpool are the only councils in New South Wales to use a private contractor for their elections". ABC News. Archived from the original on 17 December 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
  12. ^ Maddison, Max (20 September 2024). "'A Labor Party hit job': Fury at move to outlaw private companies running council elections". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
  13. ^ Smerdely, Nick [@clrnicksmerdely] (9 August 2024). "As many of you are already aware, I'm not recontesting for Georges River Council at the upcoming election" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 7 September 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Maddison, Max; Smith, Alexandra; Gorrey, Megan (14 August 2024). "NSW Liberals in chaos as party fails to nominate council candidates". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 14 August 2024. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  15. ^ Holmes, Dan (18 August 2024). "NSW Electoral Commission refuses Liberal Party extension". The Mandarin. Archived from the original on 18 August 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  16. ^ "NSW Liberal council election blunder: Georges River, Canterbury-Bankstown impacted". The Greek Herald. 16 August 2024. Archived from the original on 14 July 2025. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  17. ^ Pike, Elizabeth (30 August 2024). "Georges River Council 2024: Meet the candidates running in this year's election". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  18. ^ Gainsford, Jim (27 August 2024). "Public Education priority for candidate for Georges River's Mortdale Ward". St George and Sutherland Shire Leader. Archived from the original on 31 August 2024. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  19. ^ a b Pike, Elizabeth (15 August 2024). "Georges River Mortdale, Peakhurst Wards to miss Liberal candidates in local election". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 August 2024. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
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