Council election wrap-up

Brooks’ reign ends at Gosford
Malcolm Brooks’ thirty-five year hold over Gosford Council (broken only by a short stint in Parliament) has come to an end following the September Local Government Elections. A new era may be heading Gosford’s way after the former Councillor failed to pick up enough votes to get re-elected. The Liberal Brooks, having run as an “independent”, outsmarted himself in the end receiving only 3,063 primary votes.

In an unusual twist the Liberal Party, headed up Councillor Chris Holstein, has made history getting four Liberals into Council. Councillor Holstein is highly likely to be Mayor of Gosford for the next four years. Obviously, Labor’s continuing tribulations prevented their number 3, Craig Munnings, getting elected. Gosford Council will now be a Liberal dominated Council for the first time.

The new Council will be made up of:

The new Gosford Council will have two major issues to contend with as they look at the next four years:
- The fallout from the State Coroner’s findings following the tragic death of five people at Somersby last year due to the Pacific Highway collapsing; and
- The fallout, also, from Council’s botched investment strategy that will see over $74 million wiped out. In addition, a commitment to the redevelopment of Gosford CBD will test the mettle of Clr Holstein who, along with Clrs Brooks, Doyle and others, have denied Gosford the investment that property developers were willing to inject over the past ten years - in particular the Spurbest development.

New blood at Wyong
With most previous councillors at Wyong not seeking re-election it will be training school at Wyong Council for seven new councillors who will be taught the ropes by long incumbents Doug Eaton, Greg Best and Bob Graham. Eaton was lucky, just scraping in. Former Liberal Councillor, Ron Stevens, who lost pre-selection for voting with the Labor Party on occasions and putting community ahead of the Party, failed to get enough votes as an Independent. Labor managed to get three councillors elected with 22% of the vote from A Ward and 31% of the vote from B Ward plus ALP member Bill Symington who ran as an “independent”.

The new Council will be made up of:

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