Gaza vote set to impact local government elections

The Greens’ conspicuous pro-Palestinian sympathy and sustained hostility to Israel since October 7 may hurt them in the upcoming local government elections.

NSW goes to the polls this weekend and Victoria is holding local postal elections throughout October.

A public campaign has been launched in Sydney over the past month, asking residents to put Greens candidates last.

The campaign is driven by a new lobby group called Better Council, which has recruited volunteers to campaign against Greens candidates in Waverley, Woollahra, Randwick and Inner West councils.

It is advocating against the Greens over their hostility towards Israel, accusing them of diverting local government to focus on international issues and inciting anti-Jewish sentiment.

Among its targets are Randwick Greens Mayor Philipa Veitch, who oversaw a successful proposal last year by Greens councillors on Randwick to fly the Palestinian flag over council chambers, a move that was later reversed.

An organiser of the group, Sophia Calland, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Better Council was a “grassroots group of young professionals” who wanted local government officials to focus on local issues.

“We believe local councils should concentrate on essential community services like waste management, local infrastructure, and the environment. That’s what councils are there for – looking after the needs of their immediate communities.”

In posts in a Telegram group chat associated with Christian Zionist group Never Again is Now Australia, the group said it was attempting to find 400 volunteers to distribute 50,000 flyers in the lead-up to the local elections.

The campaign against the Greens has been matched by a competing campaign, We Vote for Palestine, which has also been handing out material in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The We Vote for Palestine campaign has persuaded Greens candidates to take a pledge to assess council candidates’ views on the Gaza conflict. Its coordinator, Subhi Awad, says the campaign, which launched four weeks ago, is “about transparency for voters”.

“Our campaign is ultimately about helping voters see who they feel is trustworthy, and which candidates are aligned with their values,” he told The Guardian.

How much influence these campaigns will have is a moot point. Most voters continue to vote on the classic local government issues – roads, rates and rubbish – and may be influenced by a local heritage or environmental issue but not by opinions on Gaza, which will have no effect on their lives.

One unexpected factor which creates a greater potential for influence is the Liberal Party’s likely weak results, as a result of a catastrophic failure to register 140 candidates across 16 councils in Sydney in time to stand for the election. That failure has the potential to change the preference calculus in several areas.

“The Greens may lose support amongst the Australian Jewish community, but this loss may be offset by more traditional moderate Liberals choosing to support them because of the absence of a Liberal candidate,” Kos Samaras, Director of strategy at RedBridge consultancy, told The Jewish Independent.

Jewish voters, and others who feel strongly supportive of Israel, also face a dilemma because many are disinclined to replace a vote for a Greens candidate with a vote for Labor, which they feel has not been sufficiently supportive of Israel. The Labor government’s recent calls for ceasefire and criticism of Israel has hardened many Jewish voters against them.  

Despite its reduced candidate list, the Liberal Party may yet benefit in some councils from a drift towards the right by Jewish voters who increasingly prioritise support for Israel above all else, no matter the level of government.

On the other hand, demography and identity alignments will favour the Greens, amplifying the impact of blocs of Arabs, Muslims and/or progressive voters, particularly in Randwick and Inner West.

The passion around the issue was clear last month when the second last pre-election meeting of the Inner West Council was abandoned after a proposed BDS resolution by the Greens was defeated. The walkout occurred just as the Labor mayor Darcy Byrne was about to initiate an alternative to the Greens motion. Byrne's foreshadowed motion was subsequently passed at a meeting on September 3.

In Victoria, the same level of lobbying has not been present and party alignments are less of a voting issue at local government level.

But polling in Melbourne’s most Jewish electorate of Macnamara found 26% of Macnamara voters who recall voting for the Greens in 2022 now intend to vote for a different party in the next Federal election. That is likely to hurt Greens’ candidates and those who express sympathy with them in the Port Phillip and Glen Eira Councils.

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