2024 New South Wales local elections

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127 of the 128local government areas inNew South Wales
First party Second party Third party   IND Leader N/A N/A N/A Party Independents[a] Labor Liberal Last election 776 seats 188 seats 127 seats Seats before 784 184 129 Seats won 722 162 115 Seat change 54 26 12 Primary vote 1,386,557 1,107,839 750,296 Percentage 32.57% 26.02% 17.62% Swing 0.16 0.65 0.10   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   OLC Leader No leader John Ruddick Paul Garrard Party Greens Libertarian OLC Last election 65 seats 0 seats 10 seats Seats before 64[c] 1[d] 9[b] Seats won 73 10 5 Seat change 8 10 4 Primary vote 411,999 87,056 42,834 Percentage 9.68% 2.04% 1.01% Swing 0.84 1.93 0.80   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   CVA AJP Leader No leader No leader William Bourke Party Community Voice Animal Justice Sustainable Last election Did not exist 1 seat 2 seats Seats before 0 1 2 Seats won 3 0 1 Seat change 3 1 1 Primary vote 23,222 15,634 13,865 Percentage 0.55% 0.37% 0.33% Swing 0.55 0.13 0.15

The2024 New South Wales local elections were held on 14 September 2024 to elect the councils of 127 of the 128local government areas (LGAs) inNew South Wales, Australia. 37 councils also heldmayoral elections, and eight councils conductedreferendums.^[8]

TheNew South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC) conducted the elections for 125 councils, while the privateAustralian Election Company conducted the elections forFairfield andLiverpool. No election was held forCentral Darling as the council was under administration.^[9]

On 26 April 2024,Minister for Local GovernmentRon Hoenig announced an investigation intoLiverpool City Council "amid ongoing reports about dysfunction and staff matters within council".^[10]

The investigation concluded on 18 July, and Hoenig announced he intended to defer Liverpool's election and suspend the council because of "widespread and serious concerns about dysfunction".^[11]

On 5 September, it was announced that the election would proceed and Hoenig backed down on his threat to suspend Liverpool City Council, awaiting the report of a further inquiry into the council's governance.^[12]

Like at state elections, New South Wales local elections useoptional preferential voting. Under this system, voters are only required to vote for one candidate or group, although they can choose to preference other candidates.^[13] The majority ofmayors are elected by councillors at council meetings, although 37 weredirectly elected in 2024 (an increase from 35 in2021).^[14]

All elections for councillor positions are elected usingproportional representation.^[15] Some councils use a single ballot paper, while others have anAustralian Senate-style ballot paper with above-the-line and below-the-line voting.^[16] Councils can be eitherundivided or be divided intowards ranging from two-member to five-member.^[17][18]

Voting is compulsory for anyone on the New South Wales state electoral roll.^[19] Property owners, rate-paying occupiers or lessees can apply to be on the "non-residential roll" in an LGA, as long as they are not already enrolled as a resident in that area and if they are eligible to be enrolled for state and federal elections.^[20] Voting is not compulsory for those on non-residential rolls, although it is still compulsory in the LGA where they are on the residential roll.^[21]

In 2014, then-Liberal premierMike Baird introduced a law for that gave businesses that own, lease, or occupy rateable land in theCity of Sydney two votes each.^[22] Voting for businesses in Sydney also became compulsory.^[23] Many critics saw the decision as an attempt by the Liberals to unseat Clover Moore as lord mayor.^[24] The business vote came into effect at the2016 election and was again in force at the2021 election.^[25][26]

FollowingLabor's victory at the2023 state election, independent MPAlex Greenwich wrote to the newlocal government minister,Ron Hoenig, requesting that the business vote was removed.^[27]

On 13 September 2023 Hoenig formally announced that the business vote would be removed, starting at the 2024 election.^[28] Eligible people will still be able to apply to be on the non-residential roll, however only one person would now be entitled to be enrolled on behalf of non-residents − the same as all other LGAs.^[28]

A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2024 elections.

The following registered parties contested the local elections:

• Animal Justice Party
• Greens
• Labor Party
• Liberal Party
• Libertarian
• Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party
• The Small Business Party
• Socialist Alliance
• Sustainable Australia Party

In addition, a number oflocal government-registered parties also contested.^[44]

A total of 3,889 candidates contested the elections for both mayoral and councillor positions.^[45] Of that, 1,635 candidates were contesting councillor and mayoral positions inGreater Sydney LGAs.^[46] Candidate nominations closed at midday on 14 August 2024.^[47]

The Greens had 376 councillor candidates and 22 mayoral candidates.^[48] More than 50 candidates were from aHellenic background.^[49]

On the day that nominations closed, theLiberal Party revealed they had missed the deadline to nominate 164 candidates in 16 different LGAs.^[50][51] The error was described by Liberal leaderMark Speakman as "probably the worst act of mismanagement" in the party's history.^[52][53]

One day later, on 15 August 2024, the Liberal Party state executive resolved to terminate the employment of its state director,Richard Shields.^[54] Shields said party presidentDon Harwin volunteered to run the nomination process so he could maintain his focus on thenext federal election.^[55]

Harwin requested that the NSWEC reopened nominations for another seven days, but his request was denied.^[56] The party then briefly considered taking legal action against the NSWEC, but ultimately decided against doing so.^[57]

TheLibertarian Party campaigned on ending "woke agendas", "smart cities", and cutting council rates, and the party was given a higher chance of winning in areas where the Liberal Party had failed to nominate candidates.^[58][59] This was the party's largest-ever local elections campaign.^[60][61]

InCumberland,Our Local Community (OLC) pledged to banWelcome to Country andsmoking ceremonies if elected to a majority.^[62][63]Shoalhaven Independents Group pledged to re-introduceAustralia Day Awards andcitizenship ceremonies on 26 January if the party gained control ofShoalhaven City Council.^[64][65]

Housing was seen as a significant issue in the elections, especially in Greater Sydney.^[66] Senior officials in thestate government were reportedly "bracing for unpredictable election results" that would threaten the housing policies of the Labor government.^[67]

TheGaza war was the subject of campaigning in the local elections. Advocacy groupBetter Council targetedGreens candidates in the LGAs ofInner West,Randwick,Waverley andWoollahra over the party's "[focus] on radicalism".^[68] The group's spokesperson is Sophie Calland, a member of theLabor Party.^[69]

Another group, called "We Vote For Palestine", asked candidates to sign their pledge, which included supporting a ceasefire anddivesting from Israel.^[70][71]

A number of Labor and Liberal campaign signs inInner West Council were vandalised with "Boycott Israel" and "This Candidate Votes For Genocide" stickers.^[72]

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats[e]	Change
	Independents[a]		1,386,557	32.57	−0.16	722	54
	Labor		1,107,839	26.02	−0.65	162	26
	Liberal		750,296	17.62	+0.10	110	17
	Greens		411,999	9.68	+0.84	73	8
	Libertarian		87,056	2.04	+1.93	10	10
	Your Northern Beaches		71,095	1.67	+0.52	7	1
	Independent Liberal		44,647	1.05	−1.33	16	8
	Our Local Community		42,834	1.01	−0.80	5	5
	Independent National		36,336	0.85	+0.45	37	28
	Shoalhaven Independents Group		30,231	0.71	+0.03	6	2
	Dai Le		30,052	0.71	+0.24	3
	Lake Mac Independents		28,530	0.67	+0.05	3
	Clover Moore Independent Team		28,201	0.66	−0.43	3	1
	Residents and Ratepayers		24,839	0.58	+0.17	5	1
	Community Voice of Australia		23,222	0.55	+0.55	3	3
	Community First Totally Independent		17,494	0.41	+0.41	3	3
	Animal Justice		15,634	0.37	+0.13	0	1
	Independent Labor		14,362	0.34	+0.26	16	15
	Sustainable Australia		13,865	0.33	+0.15	1	1
	Community Champions		12,735	0.30	+0.30	1	1
	Peaceful Bayside		11,536	0.27	+0.27	2	2
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers		10,619	0.25	−0.05	4	1
	Residents First Woollahra		9,393	0.22	−0.05	5
	Yvonne Weldon Independents		8,144	0.19	+0.19	1	1
	Liverpool Community Independents Team		7,547	0.18	−0.09	1	1
	Serving Mosman		7,062	0.17	0.00	3	1
	Central Coast Heart		3,799	0.09	+0.09	0
	Lorraine Wearne Independents		3,722	0.09	−0.15	1
	Australia Multinational Unity Inc		3,715	0.09	+0.09	0
	Small Business		3,474	0.08	−0.22	1
	Strathfield Independents		3,401	0.08	−0.02	1	1
	Battler		1,848	0.04	+0.04	0
	Socialist Alliance		1,691	0.04	−0.03	0
	Australian Christians		1,585	0.04	+0.04	0
	Australian Democrats		967	0.02	+0.02	0
	Independent One Nation		757	0.02	+0.02	0
	Family First		241	0.01	+0.01	0
	Public Education Party		82	0.00	+0.00	0
	Independent United Australia					1	1
Formal votes			4,257,457
Registered voters / turnout

In addition to the local elections, eight LGAs heldreferendums and a further two held advisory polls.^[73][74][75]

Labor had several significant wins, including gaining majorities inWollongong andPenrith (the latter after all five Labor candidates inEast Ward were elected unopposed) and holding off a Greens challenge onInner West Council.^[78][79] However, the party lost majorities inCanterbury-Bankstown andCumberland.^[80] Labor also suffered swings against them inFairfield, where theCarbone-Le Alliance was returned to a majority with increased support.^[81] Labor'sNewcastle lord mayor,Nuatali Nelmes, was also defeated.^[82]

The Liberal Party was significantly impacted by its failure to nominate many candidates, but the party won a majority inRyde (including winning Ryde's firstdirectly elected mayoral election).^[83] The party also returned to having representation inParramatta, after not endorsing candidates there in 2021.^[80] There was an increase in the number of Liberal members electedwithout party endorsement.^[84][85]

The Greens won their first-ever seats inBlacktown andCumberland, as well as a record amount of seats for the party inBayside,Campbelltown,Parramatta andWollongong.^[80] However, the party lost votes inRandwick.^[86]

The party was completely wiped out ofShoalhaven, having lost their representation after 16 years on council, with three councillor positions, one for each ward, failing to be retained. They also failed to retain the mayoral spot, after 9 years of having the mayoral role.^[87] In neighbouringKiama, the Greens had an almost 12% swing against them and retained only one of two seats; this was the first time in 20 years that the Greens were reduced to a single seat on the council.

The Libertarian Party benefited in areas where the Liberals were unable to recontest, especiallyMidCoast Council, where they became the largest party.^[88][89]

This was a record result for the party, which has previously won two seats at the2012 local elections (under their former "Liberal Democrats" name).^[90] The party had the fourth-largest amount of candidates statewide, only behind Labor, the Liberals and the Greens.^[91]

Your Northern Beaches Independent Team returned to being the largest party onNorthern Beaches Council after the Liberals failed to nominate candidates.^[92]

Our Local Community lost its four seats inParramatta.^[93] TheShooters, Fishers and Farmers Party won four seats (one less than2021 but one more than what the party had before the election), including two councillors elected inDubbo.^[94]

• 2024 New South Wales mayoral elections
• 2024 Central Coast Council election
• 2024 Sydney City Council election

• Results by local government area (NSWEC)
• How-to-vote cards (NSWEC)

• 2024 New South Wales local elections
• 2024 elections in Australia
• September 2024 in Australia
• Local elections in New South Wales

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