The next local government elections will be held on September 14th 2024.

The Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Women has launched a campaign to encourage more women to stand for their community at the next local government elections.

“One of the real strengths of our state is the diversity of our communities, and we need to see this diversity better reflected in the make-up of our councils.

“A lack of confidence or information about what it means to be a councillor can hold a lot of people back from putting their hand up, especially women.

“We hope with this support, these workshops can encourage more women and people from diverse backgrounds to take the plunge and represent their communities in the elections this September.”

Lane Cove Councillors – Five Women

Lane Cove has nine councillors.  Three councillors represent the Central, East and West Wards.  Lane Cove currently has 5 women councillors – this is against the trend of male dominated local councils.  The complete list of councillors can be viewed here.

The most recent Candidate and Councillor Diversity Report shows the number of female councillors rose from 31.2% to 39% at the 2021 Local Government elections.

The report also shows 3.9% of councillors were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, 10.1% of councillors were linguistically diverse and 4.2% of councillors were aged 18 to 29.

Diversity

What Lane Cove does not have is diversity in ethnicity and age in our local councillors.  It would be great to see some younger candidates.  Rochelle Flood is a Greens Councillor and is currently the youngest councillor.  There is currently only one councillor, Andrew Zbik, who has young children.

Running For Council

You don’t have to be a member of a political party to run for office.  In fact, Lane Cove has a recent history of electing independent candidates. Obviously, if you want support and access to a larger team, then being part of a political party will be of assistance.

If you are interested in running for council, further details can be found here.

The Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) NSW will be hosting a Forum for women interested in standing for Council.

Lane Cove and Hunters Hill Council welcome the Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA) NSW to host a forum for women interested in standing for Council in the September Local Government Elections.

The forum is one of a number being held by ALGWA NSW across the state, designed to promote representation of women as local Councillor.  Book here.

Timelines

You need to make your decision to nominate and to lodge the forms in August 2024.

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