Sydney councillors quit Labor amid rate hike anger

2 months ago 11

Labor has lost majority control of Sydney’s largest council after the deputy mayor and a councillor quietly resigned from the party over a proposed rate hike, accusing their party councillors of “playing politics at an inept and dangerous level”.

This masthead can reveal Blacktown City councillors Carol Israel and Bob Fitzgerald notified Labor head office of their resignations from the party in September, fuelled by concerns about a plan to increase local rates for residents and businesses, and the 2022 sale of huge swaths of council-owned land to major developer, the Walker Corporation.

Blacktown City councillors Bob Fitzgerald and Carol Israel resigned from Labor.

The defections – kept secret while the party considered formal expulsion – end decades of near-uninterrupted Labor dominance in Blacktown, stripping Mayor Brad Bunting of the numbers required to guarantee Labor’s agenda in one of the city’s most significant growth corridors.

Blacktown City Council is grappling with a projected surge in its population from 400,000 to 600,000 over the next 20 years and says it cannot fund essential services and run programs the community expects with the money it gets from rates under the legislated cap.

Since August, councillors have been debating the merits of a proposed special rate variation which, if approved by the independent regulator, IPART, would force businesses and residents to pay more in council rates.

Bunting said the rise, when coupled with the standard rate increase, would result in an average rise of $3.29 a week for most households. The area’s two largest shopping centres, Westpoint Blacktown and Westfield Mount Druitt, would face a major rate rise to reduce the impact on smaller businesses.

In November, councillors voted 8-7 against the planned increase.

But, in a chaotic reversal during an extraordinary meeting held last Monday, the rate hike was revived. Labor used a rescission motion to push the plan through on a voice vote, a move only possible because two Liberal councillors were absent: one was on a flight, and the other, seeking to attend the meeting remotely, was locked out because of a technical problem with a video conferencing app.

Now-independent councillors Israel and Fitzgerald both voted against the increase, splintering from their former Labor colleagues, who all supported it.

$42 million sale a ‘bad decision’

Fitzgerald said he also had concerns about the $42 million sale of a huge portion of land and property in Blacktown’s city centre to developer Walker Corporation, the group responsible for the transformation of Parramatta Square. The sale, which councillors voted to accept with no tender by a single vote in 2022, meant the council began renting its own chambers from Walker Corporation.

“I can support a [special rate variation] for maintenance, but not one for a bad decision made by councillors in the past,” he said. “When I was elected, I swore an oath to do my very best for the people of Blacktown and the city,” said Fitzgerald, who retired last year as the chief inspector for Blacktown Area Command after close to 40 years in the police force.

“The more I see it, the more I dislike local politics. I’ve been elected to represent all the people, however at a local level, I cannot respect, I cannot trust, people who I believe do not have the community at heart.

“I’ve got to make sure our financial sustainability is sustainable, and we’re not leaving future residents with our bills today.”

Israel, a trade unionist, is facing disciplinary action by Labor for voting against the caucus in relation to the sale of the land and the rate hike. She said she resigned “to fight for the best interests of my constituents”.

But Bunting accused the pair of leaving the party “for their own self-interest”, after the Liberals nominated Israel, now independent, for the position of deputy mayor. He said the rate rise was required for three reasons: addressing backlog maintenance work, building new council offices, and managing the day-to-day management of sites created by the NSW government.

Fitzgerald said the rise would leave “future residents with our bills today”.

“I’m a believer in the Labor Party but not a believer in some of the members of the Labor Party who play politics at a very inept and dangerous level,” he added. “Labor, Liberals and the Greens all have some fascinating policies I support and respect. Unfortunately, it’s got to the stage now where I, in good conscience, cannot support some of those projects going forward.”

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.