The Liberal Party’s failed local government nominations have opened the door for independents in the upcoming local government elections.

With the NSW Liberal Party failing to submit the nomination forms for some 160 local council candidates ahead of the August 14 deadline, the task of overcoming the economic might of the major parties is a little less this September.

The mishap has left at least eight local councils without a Liberal nominee, which include the Sydney LGAs of Camden, Campbelltown, Lane Cove, the Northern Beaches and Penrith.

On Northern Beaches Council, incumbent Mayor Sue Heins said now was the time for her independent team.

“As independents [in the Northern Beaches], we have more opportunities to be vocal about what the community want and not being told how to vote,” she said. “Every vote is a conscience vote.” 

Heins added the voice of independents was “vitally important” in an era dominated by the two-party system, especially in the Northern Beaches where the Liberal Party has performed strongly. She said she offered a grassroots-led approach that is “closest to the people they represent”.

Campbelltown’s LGA currently seats four Liberal councillors who were not nominated in time. Campbelltown’s Adam Zahara said many other independent conservatives could offer an alternative to the Liberals on Saturday. 

“True blue [Liberal] voters will want an alternative Liberal Party, and with me, I think they’ll be able to see that I’m a conservative and that they do have a conservative option in me,” he told Central News.  

“We’re really about accountability and transparency. We want to be held accountable.”

If I had been a party candidate, I would have been in so much trouble. I would have had to give the party line.

Zahra’s Independents for Campbelltown, say they offer an alternative in an era of corruption at the local, state and federal levels, and added that critical projects were being forgotten about in Campbelltown, such as the Raby Road and Hume Highway interchange, as well as essential recreational services such as parks.

“What’s happened is [these projects have been put] in a too-hard basket,” he said, promising to “clean up the red and green tape”, and prioritise local needs and local projects that have been neglected by the agendas of larger parties. 

In Wollondilly, on the south-western outskirts of Sydney, incumbent independent councillor Suzy Brandstater agreed the Liberals selection blunder would further strengthen the success of independents.

Independent representatives already dominate the council, with the Liberal Party having never run for council within the area and the Labor Party last campaigning there in 2004. Bandstater said it had enabled her to champion sewerage and water services in new housing developments at Wilton, which were years behind the promised delivery date. 

She said: “I got onto Channel 9. It ended up being a three-part story as [they] found all these people in the same situation. We had to blow it out of the water.

“If I had been [a] party candidate, I would have been [in] so much trouble over that. I might be able to do the [Wilton] story, but I would have had to give the party line.”

The Liberal’s blunder could also have long-lasting impacts, particularly leading into the State and Federal elections. About one in five Federal MPs came from local government, according to the Parliamentary Handbook. 

Candidates who already committed funds to their campaign will be left out of pocket up to the campaign cap of $20,000, which potentially could result in a class action against the Liberal Party, the Sydney Morning Herald has reported.

Main image by Central News.