AS the counting of votes from Saturday's NSW local government elections continues, it is clear that the ALP has done well in the Hunter Region, with a strong enough result in other parts of the state to suggest that Labor may have strengthened its position across the board.
Although there is no clear-cut correlation between local government elections and federal voting intentions, a strong result in the council elections would be the sort of sign that party supporters might look to as an indicator for the looming election.
One of the problems with such a comparison is that the Liberal Party does not always run candidates at local government level.
Still, many Independents will have Liberal Party affiliations, and the Labor/Independent balance on such councils can still be interpreted as a battle between progressive and conservative values.
In Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, the Labor incumbents Nuatali Nelmes and Kay Fraser have easily retained the chains of office, and in Cessnock, Jay Suvaal will step up from deputy mayor, keeping the job in Labor hands after the retirement of incumbent mayor Bob Pynsent.
In Maitland, Labor incumbent Loretta Baker is in a very tight race with Independent Philip Penfold for the second election running.
Arguably the most interesting mayoral contest is that between the Port Stephens incumbent, Independent Ryan Palmer, and Labor challenger Leah Anderson, in her first shot at local government.
Despite a controversy over her role as chief executive of Port Stephens Koala Hospital - which is partly funded by the council - Ms Anderson may yet derail Cr Palmer after one term.
In another pointer to what might happen federally if COVID is still an issue - which may well be the case - Saturday's council elections featured an unusually high rate of informal voting in a number of seats across the state.
Admittedly, informal votes in some races were lower than last time around, but tallies of 15 per cent and higher in various councils are being put down by most observers to a coronavirus safety ruling that banned volunteers with flyers from coming within 100 metres of the polling stations.
While a slice of the informal voting will be a deliberate statement by individual voters, most will have been cast accidentally.
It's one aspect of the forthcoming poll the Australian Electoral Commission should pay close attention to.
ISSUE: 39,739
