Only 10 council meetings remain until the Central Coast can elect its own local government and some former councillors are already moving into campaign mode.
The decision by Central Coast Council Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, to cut the frequency of meetings from fortnightly to monthly will further minimise interaction between the community and council between now and the election in September 2017, when Mr Reynold’s term will end.
As a condition of their participation in the Local Representation Committee, former councillors have been gagged from speaking to the media about issues related to the operations of the new Central Coast Council. Most have been reluctant to speak on the record even to express their personal opinions about important local issues. With the exception of former Gosford Mayor, Mr Lawrie McKinna, who is now CEO of the Newcastle Jets Football Club, there is an expectation that most of the former Gosford councillors will run for election to the new Central Coast Council. Prior to the amalgamation of Gosford and Wyong Councils, Labor Councillor, Mr Jim McFadyen had said he would not seek a role on any representation committee nor would he run for re-election, but he is now expected to do so.
The Local Representation Committee will be disbanded in June, which will give its members intending to contend the election at least two clear months to go on the public record about their positions on core local issues. Until then, the former councillors have been told that the only people allowed to speak to the media on behalf of the Central Coast Council are administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds and CEO, Mr Rob Noble.
The division of the new Central Coast local government area into fi ve wards may make it difficult for some of the former councillors to recontest their seats. For instance, the rules surrounding what requirements a candidate will need to meet to campaign to represent a specifi c ward are vague. The only requirement seems to be that they are a resident of the new local government area so they could run for election to represent a ward that they do not even live in. Candidates who belong to one of the major parties will have to go through a preselection process, which is not expected to occur until the New Year.
Councillors who have worked for years to build up connections in their local community, or have even entered local government for a particular cause close to home, would obviously consider that they would have an advantage if able to run in their “home ward”. However, looking at the makeup of the two former councils, it is evident that some councillors may not be given the opportunity by their party to run close to home.
The former Gosford Council had one Green, Ms Hillary Morris, two Labor councillors, Ms Vicki Scott and Mr McFadyen; and four Liberal councillors, Deanna Bocking, Bob Ward, Chris Burke and Jeff Stricksen. It is not likely that the two major parties (Liberal and Labor) would allow more than one councillor to contend for the same ward so each party may decide to run its five strongest candidates and then have some say over which ward each candidate contests. If all former councillors who are current members of the Local Representation Committee decide to run for elected positions on the new council, that would mean there would be five Labor candidates, six Liberals and seven independents and minor parties. The Greens are expected to also run a candidate in each ward.
Jackie Pearson, journalist