The 2021 New South Wales local elections were held on 4 December 2021 to elect the councils of 121 of the 128 local government areas (LGAs) in New South Wales. Several councils also held mayoral elections and/or referendums.
The Liberal Party did not run in Kiama, North Sydney or Shoalhaven, however a number of party members chose to contest as independents.
Background Following the 2012 elections, a large amount of councils were amalgamated and the local government areas comprised larger areas. This resulted in 79 councils being contested in 2016 and 46 2017. 2021 marked the first time in nine years that the vast majority of councils were being contested at the same time.
The elections were scheduled to be held in September 2020, but as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia they were delayed until 4 September 2021. On 24 July 2021, it was announced the elections would again be delayed until 4 December 2021.
Two councils − Fairfield and Penrith − opted to use the services of the Australian Election Company, while all other elections were conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission.
The election for Norfolk Island Regional Council, which was meant to be held at the same time as New South Wales, was also postponed in 2020. It was later scheduled to be held in March 2021, however the council was suspended in February 2021 and eventually dismissed on 6 December 2021.
Lead Greens candidate for Orange, Melanie McDonell, announced on 21 May 2021 she would leave the Greens and stand on a "McDonell Team" independent ticket.
Political parties The following registered parties contested the elections. This does not include unregistered groups of independents: Animal Justice Party Greens Labor Party Liberal Democrats Liberal Party Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party Socialist Alliance Sustainable Australia Party The Small Business Party
In addition, a number of local government-registered parties also contested the elections.
Party changes before elections A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2021 elections. Council Ward Councillor Former party New party Date Sydney Unsubdivided Kerryn Phelps Clover Moore Independent Team Independent 26 June 2017 Coolamon Unsubdivided Jeremy Crocker Independent Shooters, Fishers, Farmers 2 October 2017 Cumberland Greystanes Greg Cumming Labor Independent Labor October 2017 Penrith North Marcus Cornish Independent One Nation 6 December 2017 Sydney Unsubdivided Kerryn Phelps Independent Kerryn Phelps Independents 15 September 2018 Upper Hunter Unsubdivided Lee Watts Independent Shooters, Fishers, Farmers 7 October 2018 Cumberland Greystanes Greg Cumming Independent Labor Independent 26 September 2018 Penrith North Marcus Cornish One Nation Independent Late 2018 Strathfield Unsubdivided Nella Hall Christian Democrats Independent Early 2019 Ryde Central Edwina Clifton Greens Labor 28 February 2019 Upper Hunter Unsubdivided Lee Watts Shooters, Fishers, Farmers Independent Post-March 2019 Ku-ring-gai Gordon Peter Kelly One Nation Conservative National 25 April 2019 Fairfield Cabravale Dai Le Independent Dai Le 29 April 2019 Northern Beaches Pittwater Alex McTaggart Community Alliance Independent 22 July 2019 Cumberland Granville Steve Christou Labor Our Local Community 27 September 2019 Strathfield Unsubdivided Nella Hall Independent Nella Hall Independents April 2020 Ku-ring-gai Gordon Peter Kelly Conservative National Independent 23 September 2020 Blue Mountains Ward 2 Chris Van der Kley Liberal Independent 24 November 2020 Blue Mountains Ward 3 Daniel Myles Liberal Independent 24 November 2020 Penrith South Brian Cartwright Liberal Independent 21 July 2021 Canada Bay Mayor Angelo Tsirekas Labor Our Local Community 19 October 2021 Randwick West Harry Stavrinos Liberal Our Local Community 24 October 2021 Ballina A Ward Stephen McCarthy Independent National Independent 1 November 2021 Parramatta Rosehill Andrew Wilson Our Local Community Small Business 8 November 2021 Hornsby B Ward Joe Nicita Greens Independent Late 2023
Results
Party Votes % Swing Seats Change Independents 1,392,142 33.73 –2.05 776 86 Labor 1,071,688 26.67 +1.05 188 3 Liberal 703,796 17.52 –7.99 127 13 Greens 355,196 8.84 +0.21 65 11 Independent Liberal 95,602 2.38 +1.08 8 3 Our Local Community 72,942 1.81 +0.08 10 6 Clover Moore Independent Team 47,877 1.19 –1.41 4 Your Northern Beaches 46,355 1.15 –8.00 6 Shoalhaven Independents Group 27,254 0.68 –0.63 4 1 Lake Mac Independents 24,922 0.62 –0.48 3 Dai Le 18,774 0.47 +0.47 3 3 Residents and Ratepayers 16,607 0.41 +0.41 4 4 Independent National 16,140 0.40 9 Small Business 12,244 0.30 +0.30 1 1 Shooters, Fishers and Farmers 12,053 0.30 +0.12 5 3 Residents First Woollahra 10,951 0.27 –0.07 5 Liverpool Community Independents Team 10,803 0.27 –0.48 2 Animal Justice 9,724 0.24 +0.20 1 1 Lorraine Wearne Independents 9,423 0.24 +0.05 1 Community First Team 7,561 0.19 –0.22 1 Sustainable Australia 7,308 0.18 +0.18 2 2 Serving Mosman 6,870 0.17 –0.09 4 1 Good For Manly 6,629 0.17 –0.48 1 Ben Shields Team 5,687 0.14 +0.01 1 Totally Locally Committed 4,809 0.12 –0.33 1 1 Liberal Democrats 4,376 0.11 −0.09 0 1 Strathfield Independents 4,120 0.10 +0.03 2 1 Nella Hall Independents 3,298 0.09 –0.07 1 Independent Labor 2,892 0.08 –0.15 1 3 Our Sustainable Future 2,769 0.07 –0.19 1 Socialist Alliance 2,612 0.07 +0.05 0 Australia First 2,549 0.06 –0.10 0 Kogarah Residents Association 919 0.02 –0.14 0 1 Arts 536 0.01 +0.01 0 Science 536 0.01 +0.01 0 Communist League 116 0.01 +0.01 0 Independent One Nation 46 0.00 –0.16 0 1 Total 4,018,048 100.00 – – – Registered voters / turnout 4,838,137 83.05 +6.45 – –
Council totals LGA Seats (excluding directly-elected mayors) Others Albury 1 1 7 Armidale 2 1 8 Ballina 0 2 7 Balranald colspan="5" Bathurst 9 Bayside 7 1 7 Bega Valley 1 1 7 Bellingen 0 2 4 Berrigan 8 Blacktown 10 0 5 Bland 9 Blayney 7 Blue Mountains 3 6 2 1 Bogan 9 Bourke colspan="5" Brewarrina 1 8 Broken Hill 2 8 Burwood 4 2 1 0 Byron 1 2 5 Cabonne 9 Camden 3 4 2 Campbelltown 7 4 0 1 3 Canada Bay 2 3 1 0 3 Canterbury-Bankstown 9 5 0 1 0 Carrathool 10 Central Coast colspan="5" Central Darling colspan="5" Cessnock 6 3 4 Clarence Valley 1 8 Cobar 12 Coffs Harbour 1 1 6 0 Coolamon 8 1 Coonamble 9 Cootamundra-Gundagai 9 Cowra 9 Cumberland 8 0 3 4 Dubbo 3 7 Dungog 7 Edward River 9 Eurobodalla 1 1 7 Fairfield 3 0 7 3 Federation 9 Forbes 9 Georges River 5 5 1 4 Gilgandra 9 Glen Innes Severn 1 8 Goulburn Mulwaree 1 0 7 1 Greater Hume 9 Griffith 11 Gunnedah 9 Gwydir 9 Hawkesbury 2 4 1 3 2 Hay 8 Hilltops 11 Hornsby 1 6 3 0 Hunter's Hill 3 0 4 Inner West 8 5 2 0 Inverell 9 Junee 9 Kempsey 1 7 Kiama 2 2 5 Ku-ring-gai 10 Kyogle 9 Lachlan 10 Lake Macquarie 7 3 0 0 3 Lane Cove 3 3 1 2 Leeton 9 Lismore 1 2 6 1 Lithgow 9 Liverpool 4 5 0 2 Liverpool Plains 7 Lockhart 9 Maitland 4 4 0 5 Mid-Coast 1 2 1 7 Mid-Western 9 Moree Plains 9 Mosman 3 4 Murray River 9 Murrumbidgee 9 Muswellbrook 12 Nambucca Valley 1 8 Narrabri 9 Narrandera 9 Narromine 9 Newcastle 7 3 2 1 0 North Sydney 2 6 2 Northern Beaches 5 2 1 7 Oberon 9 Orange 1 9 1 Parkes 10 Parramatta 7 1 2 5 Penrith 5 6 4 Port Macquarie-Hastings 1 5 2 Port Stephens 4 1 0 4 Queanbeyan-Palerang 3 2 1 5 Randwick 5 5 4 1 Richmond Valley 1 5 Ryde 5 6 0 1 Shellharbour 3 4 Shoalhaven 3 4 2 4 Singleton 1 7 1 Snowy Monaro 2 1 8 Snowy Valleys 0 9 Strathfield 3 1 3 Sutherland 5 8 0 2 Sydney 1 2 1 1 4 Tamworth 1 8 Temora 9 Tenterfield 10 The Hills 3 9 0 0 0 Tweed 1 2 1 3 Upper Hunter 1 8 Upper Lachlan 9 Uralla 9 Wagga Wagga 2 1 6 Walcha 8 Walgett 9 Warren 12 Warrumbungle 9 Waverley 4 5 3 0 Weddin 9 Wentworth 9 Willoughby 13 Wingecarribee colspan="5" Wollondilly 9 Wollongong 6 3 2 2 0 Woollahra 8 2 0 5 Yass Valley 1 8
Referendums and polls In addition to the local elections, eight LGAs held referendums on questions relating to electoral structures. An advisory poll on de-amalgamation was also held for Inner West.
The closest result was in Wagga Wagga, where 50.6% voted "No" to directly-electing the mayor.
LGA Question YES NO Informal Turnout Ref Votes % Votes % Votes % Total % Armidale "Do you support a reduction in the number of councillors for Armidale Regional Council from eleven to nine?" 10,891 68.9 4,913 31.1 272 1.2 16,076 83.7 Bega Valley "Should the Bega Valley Shire have a popularly elected Mayor from 2024?" 16,507 72.7 6,192 27.3 559 2.4 23,258 87.1 Dubbo "Currently Dubbo Regional Council is divided into five wards that elect 10 councillors in total; do you favour abolishing this ward system in favour of a single area consisting of all voters that elects 11 councillors?" 22,087 74.6 7,524 25.4 957 3.1 30,568 82.3 Griffith "Do you agree that the number of Councillors elected to Griffith City Council be reduced from 12 to 9?" 10,010 71.4 4,017 28.6 531 3.6 14,558 86.7 "Do you agree that the election of the Mayor to Griffith City Council be changed from popularly elected to elected by Councillors?" 3,889 28.2 9,888 71.8 729 5.0 14,506 86.4 Inner West "In May 2016, Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils were amalgamated into one local government area by the State Government. Do you support the Inner West local government area being de-amalgamated, so as to restore the former local government areas of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville?" 65,126 62.5 39,093 37.5 2,731 2.6 106,950 80.7 Murray River "Do you wish to remove the three wards currently in place (Moama, Greater Wakool and Greater Murray with three Councillors elected within each ward), within Murray River Council to become an undivided Local Government Area?" 2,139 34.5 4,067 65.5 66 1.1 6,272 71.3 Ryde "Do you support a popularly elected Mayor where the voters of the City of Ryde elect the Mayor for a four (4) year term, thereby adopting a thirteen (13) Councillor model (including the Mayor)?" 49,392 76.2 15,442 23.8 1,927 2.9 66,761 87.2 Wagga Wagga "The Mayor of Wagga Wagga is currently elected every two (2) years by the nine (9) Councillors. Do you approve of the direct election of the Mayor by the voters of Wagga Wagga, for a four (4) year term, noting this will result in increased election costs each and every election?" 18,330 49.4 18,786 50.6 1,290 3.4 38,406 83.0 Walcha "Do you favour the removal of the current ward based system so that all voters select all eight (8) Councillors that represent the Walcha Council area?" 1,142 61.2 723 38.8 19 1.0 1,884 83.0
Aftermath Elected councillors Logan Collins was elected to Cootamundra–Gundagai Regional Council at the age of 18, becoming the youngest local councillor in New South Wales history.
iVote crash and re-runs
Analysis commissioned by the NSWEC found 55 voters in Singleton, 54 in Shellharbour and 34 voters in Kempsey who attempted to use iVote were prevented from casting their vote. As a result, re-runs were ordered by the Supreme Court of NSW which were held on 30 July 2022 and iVote was not used for the 2023 state election.
By-elections and countbacks The New South Wales Electoral Commission has held a number of by-elections and countbacks to fill vacancies on councils since the 2021 elections.
Countbacks were introduced in January 2022 for council vacancies across the state, although by-elections are still used for some councils.
By-elections