By EVA BAXTER
The results of the 2021 local government elections have been finalised and there has been no change in the representation of parties sitting on Woollahra Municipal Council, and 11 of the 15 elected councillors were councillors on the previous term.
The Liberal party has won eight seats, Residents First Woollahra (RFW) won five seats and the Greens won two, which is the same result as 2017’s council election.
Residents First Woollahra and the Liberal party went head-to-head for second seats in Bellevue Hill ward, Double Bay ward and Vaucluse ward, with the Liberals winning a second seat in each of the three wards.
However, RFW saw a considerable positive swing of +10.3 since last election.
In contrast, the Liberal Party saw a much smaller positive swing of +1.3 and the Greens saw a considerable negative swing of -9.0.
Greens Nicola Grieve just beat Liberal Dixie Coulton for a seat in Cooper ward, with the margin sitting at only 170 votes.
Bellevue Hill Ward
Bellevue Hill ward elected incumbent Isabelle Shapiro for the Liberal party, incumbent Lucinda Regan for RFW and Sean Carmichael for the Liberal party.
The Liberals won 3,119 votes (56.5%) to RFW’s 2,400 votes (43.5%).
The margin between the last elected candidate Sean Carmichael and the last unelected candidate Michelle Falstein for RFW was 1,597 votes.
Cooper Ward
Cooper ward’s representatives will be Liberal Sarah Swan, incumbent RFW Luise Elsing and Green Nicola Grieve.
Liberals picked up 2,754 votes (46.7%), with RFW winning 1,727 (29.3%) and the Greens 1,411 (23.9%).
Liberal Dixie Coulton just missed out on a seat, with the margin between unelected Coulton and Nicola Grieve at 170 votes.
Double Bay Ward
Double Bay’s 2022 councillors are all incumbents, Liberal Toni Zeltzer, RFW Mark Silcocks and Liberal former Deputy Mayor Richard Shields.
The Liberal Party won 3,147 votes (55.1%), and RFW picked up 2,569 votes (44.9%).
The margin between the last elected candidate Richard Shields and the last unelected candidate RFW Karin Olah was 1,547 votes.
Paddington Ward
Paddington is the only ward where both RFW and the Greens beat the Liberal party in votes.
RFW Harriet Price, Greens Matthew Robertson and Liberal Peter Cavanagh have all been re-elected as councillors for Paddington ward.
RFW won the majority of votes with 2,046 (35.1%), the Greens came in next at 1,914 votes (32.8%) and the Liberal party trailed close behind at 1,874 votes (32.1%).
The margin between the last elected candidate Peter Cavanagh and the un-elected candidate Liberal Georgina Jarvis was 1,720.
Vaucluse Ward
The Liberal Party picked up their highest majority in Vaucluse ward with 3,788 votes (63.2%). incumbent Liberals Mary-Lou Jarvis and former mayor Susan Wynne will represent Vaucluse again, along with RFW Merrill Witt.
RFW won 2,209 votes (36.8%).
The margin between the last elected candidate Susan Wynne and the next un-elected candidate incumbent RFW Claudia Cullen was 2,151 votes.
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New and returning councillors will vote for Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Woollahra Municipal Council at the first extraordinary council meeting in January 2022.
