And The Results Are In!

Thank you for all of your incredible support and help before, during and after our campaign for the recent North Sydney Council elections.

Community voted for REAL change

The good news is that the community overwhelmingly voted for change - rejecting the existing majority on the Council and clearly voting for a Council that is responsive to and representative of our community. We believe that this change was driven by community concerns about overdevelopment, the environment, integrity and public participation.

It was an extraordinary election held in exceptionally challenging circumstances: 2 wards, historical numbers of groups running and Covid restrictions which prevented "handing out" of how to votes for much of pre-poll and election day not to mention iVote (crashing!).

Declared results

This morning, the poll was finally formally declared by the NSW Electoral Commission as follows:

ST LEONARDS WARD

Elected	Team	First Preference Votes	Percentage
Zoë BAKER	The Real Independents	4,768	25.72%
Godfrey SANTER	Labor	3,323	17.92%
James SPENCELEY*	Team Spenceley	3,290	17.74%
Alanya DRUMMOND	Team Jilly	2,461	13.27%
​William BOURKE	Sustainable Australia	2,425	13.08%

*Group A position on ballot paper

CAMMERYGAL WARD

Elected	Team	First Preference Votes	Percentage
MaryAnn BEREGI	The Real Independents	2,937	15.39%
Jilly GIBSON	​Team Jilly	5,022	26.31%
Shannon WELCH	Labor	2,950	15.45%
Ian MUTTON*	Community First	2,270	11.89%
Georgia LAMB	Sustainable Australia	2,033	10.65%

*Group A position on ballot paper

ACROSS BOTH WARDS

​Team	First Preference Votes	Percentage
The Real Independents	7,705	19.6%
​Team Jilly	7,483	19%
Labor	6,273	16%
Sustainable Australia	4,458	11.37%
Team Spenceley*	3,290	8.3%
Ian Mutton*	2,270	5.79%

We are so very proud of the amazing group of people who ran with us. Each brought incredible intelligence, passion, understanding and connection to our community to the table and the community responded to their energy and passion.

We are very disappointed that our number 2 and 3 candidates - Ian Grey and Katie Richmond for Cammeraygal and Nicole Antonini and Chris Holding for St Leonards - were not elected... this time.

As many of you know, this election was a huge challenge due to the sheer number of teams running. It was an amazing group effort and, in our view, the tenor of the new Council will be very different to the previous term, in no small thanks to each of The Real Independents candidates and to you, our supporters.

Swearing in of new Council and election of Mayor

The first formal meeting of the new Council is scheduled for Monday 10 January 2022. The purpose of the meeting is to swear in the new Council and the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

We would like to take the opportunity to let you know, now the poll has been formally declared, that Zoe will nominate for the position of Mayor. Under the Local Government Act 1993 the position is for a term of 2 years and the Deputy Mayor is for a term of 1 year.

There is so very much to do as soon as the new Council is sworn in - Cammeray Park (Warringah Freeway upgrade works proceed apace with plans for the loss of more trees and open space to accommodate buses), Military Road Planning Study (revoke), Cremorne heritage protection, R3 Zone amendment, pursuing compliance at Noakes, meeting practice and transparency (reinstate right of the public to speak) to name just a few.

We intend to hit the ground running!

What's next?

The Real Independents are not going anywhere - our amazing team will draw breath over the Christmas New Year period and be back to pursue the issues we all care so deeply about: integrity, sustainability and transparency.

We have a lot of interesting and stimulating projects to pursue and we hope you will continue to join with and support us.

We wish you all a very well earned break over the Christmas and New Year period.

We cannot thank you enough for your help and support.

Best wishes,

- Zoe Baker and MaryAnn Beregi and The Real Independents