Up to two hours before the deadline, Deputy Mayor Georgia Ryburn had been reassured that her nomination for the upcoming election was on track. She refreshed her screen repeatedly until the midday cut off hit. She wasn’t on the ticket.
As of Tuesday night (20 August), The NSW Liberal party backed down on its threat to pursue legal action against the NSW Electoral Commission’s rejection to extend the registration deadline after failing to nominate all of its candidates (more detail at the end). During the weekend’s battle of words between the party and the Commission, Liberal incumbents like current Cr Ryburn had shown few signs of hope that the error could be fixed.
Need a refresher? Last week, NSW Liberal headquarters failed to nominate over 100 of its candidates in 16 council areas, leaving all five wards on the Northern Beaches without a Liberal representative (except for Mandeep Singh in Pittwater Ward who is a Liberal affiliate). This story was first broken on the Northern Beaches via the Manly Observer News app.
“The outcome of this has meant that the Northern Beaches community won’t get the diversity of choice on election day, and then, conversely, won’t get that contest of ideas for the next four years on Council,” says Cr Ryburn who was to run as the Liberal candidate for Manly and remains Deputy Mayor of the Northern Beaches for four more weeks.
Why didn’t she lodge the forms herself? Because she isn’t allowed under party rules, and she had been reassured up to two hours before cut off that the matter was in hand, she tells Manly Observer.
“All I know is we completed the forms and submitted them [to NSW Liberal HQ] and they confirmed to us that the forms would be submitted by [12pm, August 14],” explains Ryburn.
“There were no red flags. The process was exactly the same as the 2021 election. They confirmed to me as late as a couple of hours before the deadline, and then the deadline passed and there was silence.
“There were no red flags. The process was exactly the same as the 2021 election. They confirmed to me as late as a couple of hours before the deadline, and then the deadline passed and there was silence.
“The first time we heard of the fallout was through the news.”
Cr Ryburn describes her emotions at the time as “gutted, shocked and disappointed, but also frustrated”. If they had been alerted to any issues, she explains she would’ve tried to run as an individual. While she emphasises the need for an investigation into what happened, to ensure it never happens again, she says the real loss is for all the Northern Beaches voters, regardless of political preference.
“People across the political spectrum have reached out to me expressing concern over not being able to have a choice, not just on election day, but also to not have a diversity of opinion for the next four years on Council,” she tells us.
“I’m pretty certain the Northern Beaches doesn’t want a council all filled with the same political party.
“We are better as a community for the diversity of opinion at any level of government.”
In the last election, the Liberal Party topped the primary vote overall, with a vote ranging from 29.7% in Manly to 42.1% in Pittwater. Your Northern Beaches has, however, held a slight majority on Council for the last three years. A majority likely to be maintained, if not strengthened, following the nomination error.
The Liberal nomination error could also mean the novel success of a Labor candidate on Northern Beaches Council, though the most number of candidates are from the Your Northern Beaches group, created by now Wakehurst MP Michael Regan, and the Greens. You can view a clear candidate summary here.
A fond, but frustrating, farewell
“I can’t understate how grateful I’ve been to be your Deputy Mayor,” Cr Ryburn reflects.
“Ultimately, why I ran in the first place was to be able to make really tangible outcomes for this community that I love, and since then I have put my heart and soul into the role, and I’m devastated that it’ll be another four years before this opportunity may arise again.”
While it’s too soon for Ryburn to know her future plans, she says her focus is serving her last few weeks as Deputy Mayor, and healing at home with her one and two year old kids, and her husband.
The Liberals kept at it
The weekend (17 and 18 August) saw NSW Liberal Party president Don Harwin submit requests to the NSW Electoral Commission to extend the registration deadline. Twice.
According to the response (which you can read in full here) from Matthew Phillips, Acting NSW Electoral Commissioner, Harwin stated that the notice period was not published at least one week (7 days) before the nomination day specified in that notice, as required by the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021. In the absence of a response from Phillips, Harwin threatened legal action to challenge the validity of the existing nomination day in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
In his response, Phillips confirmed that the Election Notice was published on Friday 9 August 2024 (5 days before the nomination deadline of Wednesday 14 August 2024), however, he stated that NSW Liberals had ample communication of the deadline, citing the election timeline, which included the nomination deadline, was published on the website and promoted on social media, newspapers and through the Electoral Commission’s bulletins, included in candidate webinars and the Commission corresponded extensively with officials of the NSW Liberal Party. He denied the request.
Shortly after Phillips’ response, Harwin tried once again requesting an internal review, which Phillips quickly responded – no dice.
After seeking legal advice, the NSW Liberal party decided not to pursue the matter any further.
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, the party said, “[We have] received advice from Senior Counsel in relation to the irregularities in the process for nomination of local government candidates conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission. Having given consideration to that advice the division will not be taking any legal proceedings.”
Manly Observer will have a full list of candidates in the order they will appear on the ballot paper in the coming week.
