Sam Coupland has been denied the 5 seats he wanted on the Armidale Regional Council, with a weak preference flow from other candidates to the dominant group seeing Jane Mactier left unelected, holding the remainder.
Labor will be disappointed to have only get one candidate elected, despite being the only other group to get a full quota in their own right. Susan McMichael was elected in the first round, but Caroline Chapman was excluded in round 32.
Eli Imad, Rob Taber relied heavily on the dregs of the preferences to get them across the line. While elected last , Brad Widders – the only ungrouped candidate to be elected – gathered votes from almost every count, including picking up around a third of the remainder Labor vote, as well as a third of Jon Galletly’s votes and a quarter of Jane Schmude’s votes.
Armidale Regional Council Results
* denotes current member of council
- McMICHAEL Susan (LABOR)*
- COUPLAND Sam*
- REDWOOD Todd*
- GADDES Paul*
- ENDRES Kay
- ROBINSON Dorothy (THE GREENS)*
- IMAD Eli
- TABER Rob
- WIDDERS Bradley*
See the full results and distribution of preferences on the NSW Electoral Commission site
Labor’s Caroline Chapman was happy enough that Labor is still represented on Council.
“I am so pleased that we still have a place at the council table and will be able to continue to participate in decisions that affect our committees. Although it would have been great to have two Labor councillors, I particularly enjoyed meeting residents, listening to their needs and ideas on ways to build better communities”.
The successful Labor candidate, Susan McMichael, says she is looking forward to continuing the work that Armidale Regional Council has been doing over the previous term.
“I look forward to working with the other councillors and progressing some of the projects that the previous council started, especially the Local Housing Strategy.
“We are looking forward to commencing new projects for the community, particularly in health and allied health. We understand the doctor shortage is impacting on people’s lives and how important it is to get specialists into the council area. Access to childcare is also a significant issue for residents and the council will be examining this in the next term. Other local projects will also be addressed such as advocating for the hydrotherapy pool which will go a long way to improve services in our communities”.
Meanwhile the defeated Jane Mactier has offered her congratulations to the victors.
“Sad that I won’t be there to help make a difference,” Jane said, “but appreciate all the support I received and the efforts all the supporters put in.”
The first scheduled meeting of the new Armidale Regional Council is on Wednesday 9 October at 4pm.
See all our coverage for the Local Government elections 2024.