Simmering tensions were revealed among councillors during the vote for Northern Beaches Mayor.
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins (main image, right) was re-elected at the Northern Beaches Council meeting last night (Tuesday, 15 September), joined by freshly elected Deputy Mayor Ruth Robins (main image, left), who replaced outgoing Deputy Mayor Candy Bingham.
Although the result would surprise few people, the manner by which it was achieved revealed deep internal splits within the Your Northern Beaches Independent Team (YNBIT).
Seven of the 15 elected councillors vied for the two positions, with an astonishing five of the seven YNBIT councillors putting themselves forward, publicly revealing disarray in their party room.
The first sign of dissent was exposed when the proposal by incumbent YNBIT Mayor Sue Heins for a show-of-hands vote was opposed by YNBIT Councillor Nicholas Beaugeard, with backing from The Greens.
Together, they moved for a secret ballot, which drew the ire of Independent Narrabeen Ward Councillor Vincent De Luca OAM, and was ultimately defeated nine votes to five.
Vincent De Luca
“A secret ballot goes against democracy. If you don’t have the confidence and ability to remain transparent that is saddening and concerning.
“Our community doesn’t want to see backroom deals done, they want to see hands up on who we support so our community knows how its elected members are voting and any backroom deals any of you have done are fully exposed in this Chamber,” said Cr De Luca.
With an open ballot settled, Northern Beaches Council Chief Executive Officer Scott Phillips revealed three nominations for Mayor had been received from incumbent YNBIT Cr Sue Heins, The Greens Cr Ethan Hrnjak, and YNBIT Cr Nicholas Beaugeard (image below).
Rumours had been swirling around Council for some time that Cr Beaugeard was planning a tilt for Mayor, unhappy with the way meetings were being run by Mayor Heins and keen to put his stamp on Council.
To achieve that outcome, he needed to convince members of his own team to switch allegiance, and win support from either The Greens or the other Independents.
It is understood in the lead-up to the meeting, Cr Beaugeard believed he had secured support from at least two of his colleagues, and hoped to win the support of The Greens.
One of the votes it is understood Cr Beaugeard believed he had secured was Cr Joeline Hackman. That support was not confirmed however, and Cr Hackman is believed to have maintained support for Mayor Heins in return for her nomination as Deputy Mayor.
With The Greens supporting their Mayoral candidate in the first round of voting, and a hostile relationship with Cr Vincent De Luca, Cr Beaugeard was able to achieve only two votes in the first round — his own and that of Cr Ruth Robins.
Placing third, Cr Beaugeard was eliminated from the contest, leaving Mayor Heins facing off against The Greens Ethan Hrnjak in the second round of voting. Although Mayor Heins won that vote comfortably ten to four, onlookers were surprised to note Cr Beaugeard had voted for Cr Hrnjak over his team mate.
Appearing to realise how this may be perceived, and possibly hearing the excited scribbling at the media table, Cr Beaugeard interjected to declare his support for Mayor Heins, having just voted against her.
“Thank you Mayor Heins. I want to congratulate you on your success as Mayor and offer my support for the next two years,” said Cr Beaugeard.
Now revealed, the schism between YNBIT members of Council was further on display with three of them nominating for the position of Deputy Mayor — Joeline Hackman, Rowie Dillon (image above, right), and Ruth Robins. The Greens Councillor Kristyn Glanville also nominated for the position.
Thus began a process of three elimination ballots that each resulted in a tied vote. In the first round, The Greens Cr Glanville and YNBIT Cr Robins were tied for the lowest number of votes, with Cr Glanville eliminated by random ballot draw.
In the second round of voting, The Greens threw their support behind Cr Robins in the three-cornered YNBIT contest. Cr Hackman and Cr Dillon now found themselves tied for the lowest number of votes, and Cr Hackman was eliminated in a random draw.
The final draw between Cr Robins and Cr Dillon revealed further divisions within the YNBIT group, with another tied vote (seven to seven) which lead to a final random ballot, this time with the person drawn winning the position of Deputy Mayor.
Voting for Cr Robins were Cr Kristyn Glanville (The Greens), Cr Ethan Hrnjak (The Greens), Cr Bonnie Harvey (The Greens), Cr Jody Williams (YNBIT), Cr Nicholas Beaugeard (YNBIT), Cr Bob Giltinan OAM (Independent), and Cr Ruth Robins (YNBIT).
Voting for Cr Dillon were Cr Sarah Grattan (YNBIT), Cr Joeline Hackman (YNBIT), Cr Sue Heins (YNBIT), Cr Candy Bingham (Good for Manly), Cr Sunny Singh (Independent), Cr Vincent De Luca OAM (Independent), and Cr Rowie Dillon (YNBIT).
As a result of the random ballot Cr Robins was elected, with minority support from her own party. The Greens Cr Miranda Korzy was not at the meeting and therefore unable to vote.
As the ramifications from the vote settled on the room, it became clear that some expectations had failed to be met, with many councillors spending as much time on their phones messaging as speaking to items on the agenda.
One source within Council said the majority of YNBIT councillors had exhibited ‘hubris’ in their approach to the election, and although the Mayoral race ended as expected, it had revealed disunity among their team, and the Deputy race ‘had not gone to plan at all’.
Another source indicated that the wheeling and dealing had largely been restricted to ‘the governing group’ and some aspirants had made assumptions about how other votes may be cast that proved incorrect.
The agenda of last night’s council meeting was unable to be completed, and the meeting was adjourned until next Tuesday evening (22 September).
Images: Northern Beaches Advocate (incl. file)
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