Tough gig for Independents to get your vote

History shows that Independent candidates have a tough time getting elected here on the Central Coast.

Results from the 2017 council elections on the Coast show most of us voted for one of the two major political parties as our first preference.

Out of 15 councillors elected, two thirds were either Liberal (4) or Labor (6).

The Budgewoi ward voted in two Labor councillors and the Liberals missed out in that ward altogether.

But in the four other wards, both Labor and Liberal each had one councillor elected.

After the 10 party members, another five Independents, one per ward, were elected.

Only in the Wyong ward did an independent candidate beat one of the two major parties to come in second.

In all other wards, the Independent was the third candidate to get in.

In the 2017 election, there was only one candidate below the line who received enough votes to become a councillor.

That was real estate agent Bruce McLachlan in The Entrance Ward.

He is not standing in 2024.

The 2017 election saw 82 candidates stand and nine were below the line.

This year we have 77 candidates and 12 are below the line.

Below the line means voters have to ignore the boxes above the line and vote for at least three individuals below the line.

In each ward, informal votes averaged below eight per cent in 2017 and voter turnout was about 82 per cent.

The NSW Electoral Commission website has all the voting results for the 2017 election and in each ward, the Independent candidates below the line attracted very few votes.

First preference totals by aggregated vote type showed that in Budgewoi the ungrouped independent below the line attracted 1.14 per cent of the vote; Labor as a group got 43.28 per cent and the Liberals 16.6 per cent. 

The grouped Independent who got in had 16.25 per cent of the vote at first preference but beat the Liberal candidate by the 17th count.

In Gosford East, the one ungrouped Independent below the line attracted 2.53 per cent of first preference totals and the grouped Liberals attracted 37.42 per cent of the vote.

Labor was a long way back in second place with 22.22 per cent.

In the Gosford West ward, the two ungrouped Independents garnered 4.51 per cent of the vote.

Labor had 25.62 per cent and the Liberals had 22.24 per cent at first preference.

In The Entrance, where McLachlan got in, his first preference total was 25.83 per cent of the vote so it proves it can be done if enough people vote below the line.

Labor had 27.67 per cent and Liberals had 26.40 per cent.

In Wyong, the ungrouped Independent attracted 0.56 per cent of the first preferences votes.

Labor had 32.17 per cent and Liberals 20.58 per cent.

This election, to be held on September 14 and with pre-poll voting starting a week earlier, the Coast has 12 ungrouped below the line candidates standing; two in Budgewoi; four in Gosford East, two in Gosford West; one in The Entrance and three in Wyong.

Above the line, there are Independents standing in groups.

In Budgewoi this is: John Mouland as lead candidate in Group D.

Above the line Budgewoi also has Greens Group A, Labor Group C and Central Coast Heart is Group E.

Also above the line is former Wyong mayor Doug Eaton’s group which is linked to the Liberals although it is not named as a Liberal party group.

Eaton is the president of the Warnervale Branch of the Liberal Party.

The two below the line are Sandra Harris who has been running her own garden maintenance business for the past 14 years and Kenneth Kozak who volunteered with the Rural Fire Service until he retired.

In Gosford East, there are four Independents and one group below the line and two groups above the line: one led by former Gosford Council mayor Lawrie McKinna; and one Labor team. 

The Liberal team is below the line as groups need three members to get a box above the line. 

The third Liberals nomination was not accepted by the Electoral Commission and no reason has been given but elsewhere in the State Liberal candidates did not make the deadline for nominations.

The four ungrouped candidates below the line are: Clive Launton, a salesman with a passion for building houses more cheaply; Sharon Andrews, who has been a volunteer with Ronald McDonald Family Room Gosford for 11 years; Rosemary De Lambert, who has recently retired from high level jobs in banking and says she will bring a can-do attitude to council; and David Kings, who runs a large whole bakery business, Kings Baked, on the Coast.

In Gosford West, there are six groups above the line and two Independents below the line.

But despite Gosford West having at least three meet-the-candidate sessions so far, neither of the two ungrouped Independents, Julian Richards and Andrew Baker, have attended any of them.

Above the line the race is on with Group A led by Daniel Abou-Chedid, better known as Chef Daniel; Group B led by the first mayor of Central Coast Council Jane Smith; Group C is led by community activist Kevin Brooks; Group D are the Liberals; Group E is Labor; Group F is led by Kariong Progress Association president and activist with Save Kariong Sacred Sites Lisa Bellamy.

The contest could be tight in Gosford West.

And also in The Entrance Ward.

There is one ungrouped below the line candidate – Rebecca Smiley, who is better known as Miss Smiley the muso to kids in early childhood centres across the Coast.

Smiley is up against Labor in Group A; the Animal Justice Party in Group B; Liberals in Group C; Wamberal Save Our Sand no seawall activist Corinne Lamont in Group D and former P&C Federation state president Sharryn Brownlee leads Group E.

The Wyong Ward, which in 2017 saw the Labor team gain 32.17 per cent of the first preferences votes compared to the Liberals’ 20.58 per cent, has the fewest number of candidates of any ward.

It has three below the line candidates in radio announcer and public servant Michael Whittingham, Daniel Craig who moved to the Coast in 2017, has experience in education and is a volunteer with Red Tree Theatre; and Jara Millward who manages LEAD Disability Services on the Coast

Groups above the line are Group A Liberals; Group B with Kyla Daniels, from Cakes by Kyla, the lead candidate and Group C Labor.

Merilyn Vale