Liberals look set to be in control of Hawkesbury Council – Richards likely to be Mayor

With almost half the votes cast now counted in the local council election, and yes there is still a way to go, it’s looking increasingly like a Liberal run council for the next 2 years and 9 months.

On the numbers this morning, those set to be elected include newly-minted independent Nathan Zamprogno who is still a member of the Liberal Party, Liberals Sarah Richards and Patrick Conolly, plus new Liberals Paul Veigel and Jill Reardon – the latter previously sat on Council over a decade ago and left in 2016.

Cllr Richards will almost certainly become Mayor – councillors will vote for a new Mayor when the new term begins – though if she becomes the Liberal pick for the federal seat of Macquarie she will have to leave that position if she wins against Labor’s Susan Templeman.

The Liberal vote is showing a swing of plus-5.3% and so far they have captured 33.7% of the vote – at the last election in 2016 their final share of the vote was 28%. As we say, this could change around a bit but they are performing well.

Labor’s Barry Calvert will also make a return. He has voted on numerous occasions with the Liberals this last term. It looks unlikely at this stage that his number 2, Amanda Kotlash, will return though, with a swing against Labor currently of minus 4.8%.

So far the only independent to be re-elected, currently with 10% of the vote, is Mary Lyons-Buckett who was Deputy Mayor in the last Council and leads the People not Parties group.

Danielle Wheeler of The Greens is polling fairly well and is just ahead of Les Sheather who is standing as an independent and is on the right of politics – he previously stood as a candidate for One Nation and was last on Council over a decade ago.

Other independents are not performing too well, including current councillor Pete Reynolds, though Shooters and Fishers lead candidate Shane Djuric is not looking too bad.

The informal vote – those votes which have been cast but have been put to one side because they have been spoiled or not filled in correctly – sits at a high 13% which is almost double what it was in 2016.

We’ll keep on eye on the figures as they continue to emerge, of course, but that’s where we are on Sunday morning.

Counting will resume on Monday, with the scheduled date for a final result, December 21.

The first Hawkesbury Council meeting of the new term will be on January 11, 2022.

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