Liberals move into the Inner West

The Liberal Party is basking in its new-found popularity in the inner west amid a state-wide swing towards the right.

Marrickville Council is welcoming the first-ever Liberal councilors in its 150-year history, while Leichhardt Council has its first ever Liberal Councillor in Annandale Ward in Vera-Ann Hannaford.

Mark Gardiner and Rosana Tyler, the two newly elected Marrickville Liberal Councillors, believe they have managed to garner the Greens’ vote. They believe the conservative swing is due to the Greens’ controversial vote to support the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) against Israel in December 2010.

Mr Gardiner said the community wants a Council that focused on local issues, not the global politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The Greens over the last four years have lost focus on what being in local government is all about, which is the provision of effective services to rate payers,” he said.

“[I think that] certainly the BDS was a factor. It was not necessarily the only issue here, but it just emphasized that the Greens were trying to do a whole lot more than they should be doing in local government.”

Ms Tyler attributed the Liberals’ popularity to voter dissatisfaction with current councils.

“Apart from a changing demographic, I think people have found that the former elected representatives just weren’t performing in a way that made them happy,” Ms Tyler said.

“I think there was a great disillusionment amongst the voters. They were very much aware that the Labor and the Greens had voted in favor of rate rises to fund the new [Marrickville] Library.”