The New South Wales Liberal party has accused the state’s electoral commission of breaching regulations and says it will be left with “no other option” than to take legal action if it isn’t given more time to nominate all its council candidates.
The Liberal party’s state president, Don Harwin, had asked for a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 candidates for the 14 September local government elections, after the party missed last Wednesday’s deadline.
But on Saturday the acting electoral commissioner, Matthew Phillips, knocked back Harwin’s request for an extension. He did not publicly disclose his reasons for the decision.
The Liberal party issued a statement on Sunday afternoon saying the commission had breached election regulations by only providing five days of official notice before the close of nominations, instead of the necessary seven.
“This mistake is not just a technicality—it goes to the heart of ensuring a fair and transparent election,” the party said.
“Despite acknowledging this error, the NSW electoral commission has chosen not to extend the nomination deadline by seven days, a simple remedy well within its powers under clause 286 of the same regulation.”
The party urged Phillips to reconsider.
“Should the NSW electoral commission fail to act, the Liberal Party of Australia NSW Division will be left with no other option but to pursue legal avenues to compel it to extend the nomination deadline.”
The party’s catastrophic administrative error has left eight local councils without any Liberal candidates – including several in party heartland – and another eight councils with only some of the intended candidates.
The premier, Chris Minns, on Sunday said he didn’t know whether the Liberals would have any grounds for a legal challenge.
“I’ve got no idea. It’s obviously up to them if they want to take up that supreme court appeal,” he said.
Minns said the state’s electoral commission had made the right call in rejecting the Liberals’ request for more time.
“It’s very important that we’ve got an independent umpire here … it’s not, I don’t think, appropriate for major political parties to referee their own game,” he said.
“I think the correct decision was made. It’s pretty fundamental. You can’t change the rules after the game’s begun. So I support his decision, but I would have accepted it if he’d made the opposite call as well.”
The Liberal party has promised it is “thoroughly investigating” the administrative disaster after sacking its state director, Richard Shields, at an emergency meeting on Thursday night.
Shields had until then resisted calls for his resignation. He said his focus been on the upcoming federal election, and that Harwin had volunteered to run the local government election process.
The former NSW Liberal premier Mike Baird on Sunday said the mistake was “hard to believe” and must “never happen again”.
“For me, when I think of administrative challenges or stuff-ups, this is right at the top of the list,” he said.
“How it happened, I don’t know … There is talk of an independent inquiry – I support that.”
The Northern Beaches, Lane Cove, Camden and Campbelltown councils are among those affected in Sydney, along with regional councils in Cessnock, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains.
