Don’t Forget to Vote

By BEV JORDAN

Election day used to be a good day to grab a democracy sausage at a local polling booth after you voted and catch up with your community in the queue.

But things have changed. Local Elections were always low key affairs compared to their State and Federal counterparts but the elections on Saturday, December 4th are taking on whole new energy and yes, they have become very political.

Hawkesbury residents have a choice of 79 candidates standing for the 12 seats available at the council.

While one Independent candidate, sitting councillor John Ross, is standing alone, the rest of the candidates are in 12 groups including former Liberal Councillor Nathan Zamprogno who is standing as an Independent.

At The Hills Shire Council, there is guaranteed to be several new faces sitting in the Hills Council Chamber after what has been called a “faction fight” saw the Liberal State Executive select the candidates rather than the local Liberal branches (as reported in the Hills to Hawkesbury October 22 to November 5).

The move resulted in the current popularly elected Mayor Michelle Byrne, missing out on the Liberal endorsement to run as Mayor in this election to current Liberal councillor Peter Gangemi.

Several Liberal Councillors who had sought endorsement were also bypassed by selectors at the State Executive including Deputy Mayor Sam Uno and Alan Haseldon from East Ward; Liz Russo from Central Ward and Brooke Collins from North Ward.

The full list of candidates standing in the Hills Shire Council election is on page 8. For a full list of candidates standing for Hawkesbury City Council turn to page 10.

The Hills to Hawkesbury Community News is an independent, family-owned newspaper. Election advertisements and advertorials have been paid for by the parties and individuals concerned. The magazine is published by Adelphi Printing Pty Ltd. Email [email protected]