92 Vie For Council In The Long Run

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday August 22, 2008

Wendy Frew Urban Affairs Editor

IT'S not quite as big as the infamous tablecloth ballot paper that faced NSW voters in 1999 but the more than 60-centimetre-long list of candidates in Campbelltown for next month's local government election would make a nice table runner.

There are 92 candidates standing in 11 groups for the western Sydney council, the location of some of the most media-maligned hospitals in NSW and once the home to former federal Labor leader Mark Latham.

That's more candidates than in any of the other 147 councils up for election on September 13, but this is not unusual for Campbelltown. In the two previous elections, 109 and 83 candidates, respectively, have battled it out to represent local people.

Despite the numbers, it is not likely to be among the hottest competitions this election. The real heat will be saved for the areas where sitting ALP councillors are under attack - inner-city councils such as Leichhardt, Marrickville and Waverley.

It is there that independents, the Greens and the Liberal Party are hoping the fallout from developer donations, the State Government's planning reforms, and the Wollongong corruption scandal will hurt ALP candidates.

But in many ways, Campbelltown is a microcosm. The majority of candidates are men, and many have either stood before or have served on their council. The full spectrum of political life is on display, from community activists and independents to established parties such as the Greens, the ALP and the Liberals.

Like elsewhere, many of the Campbelltown candidates have politics in the blood, with a mixture of father-and-son, father-and-daughter and husband-and-wife teams listed on the ballot.

Across councils, the family with the biggest representation is the perhaps unfortunately named Green family, who are standing in Penrith for Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party.

If voting trends are anything to go by, the successful candidates next month will most likely be white, male and aged over 40. If they are standing for a Sydney council they will be most likely a professional or a retiree, or a farmer if they are standing for a country council.

For the past three elections, the split between male and female candidates has roughly been 70-30, although the number of women standing has been rising, a trend also reflected in state and federal elections.

Among mayors, the gender gap is even more noticeable, with almost nine out of 10 being men.

More than half of the people who stood for council in 2004 were aged between 40 and 59. The next most common age groups were 60 to 69 and 30 to 39. There is no age barrier for candidates and there are a sizeable number of sitting candidates aged in their 70s, with some old-timers serving their local communities for as long as 40 years.

The chances of being elected increase with age. In 2004, the age group that did best was aged from 60 to 69, followed by 50 to 59. But voters didn't warm to those aged over 80 or under 24.

With 4620 candidates standing, the field is smaller than 2004's record number of 5000.

Voting is compulsory, not just for ratepayers but for anyone on the electoral roll.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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