Letters to the Editor
24 September, 2026
Letter to the Editor: New Mayor
Erin Foley’s ascension to the mayorship is an interesting phenomenon. She is the first woman to lead Wingecarribee Shire Council since 2014. It is also an unconventional outcome, given the new mayor received an exceptionally low primary vote and did not seek election in her own right at the last council election.
Erin Foley’s ascension to the mayorship is an interesting phenomenon.
She is the first woman to lead Wingecarribee Shire Council since 2014. It is also an unconventional outcome, given the new mayor received an exceptionally low primary vote and did not seek election in her own right at the last council election.
While I am no expert on the shire’s history, it is my understanding since amalgamation no other mayor or shire president has assumed the office in circumstances quite like these.
Under s 282(2) of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), Foley’s election as mayor is entirely lawful, provided she enjoys the support of a majority of councillors. Yet, legality and electoral mandate are two different questions. Therefore, it raises a significant point of how closely does the new mayor’s individual electoral mandate reflect support from the community?
At the 2024 election, Foley received just 19 first-preference votes in her own name. She was elected after preferences from the Fitzpatrick ticket, receiving a substantial transfer from her predecessor’s surplus. Essentially her election was a product of the group voting system rather than just a vote for her personally.
Therefore, highlighting a potential weaknesses of ticket voting. NSW local government elections allow candidates to form groups and appear together on the ballot paper. Where a group has a group voting square, an elector can simply vote above the line by placing a “1” in the group’s square. That vote is then distributed among the candidates according to the group’s registered order. Alternatively, voters can vote below the line and number individual candidates according to their own preferences.
The Foley result demonstrates the distinction between voting for a candidate and voting for a ticket. Quintessentially a voter may have intended to support the lead candidate on a ticket without necessarily having any particular knowledge of, or preference for, the candidates further down the ticket. Nevertheless, the voting system can result in those candidates receiving the benefit of the lead candidate’s electoral support. This is not a suggestion that Foley is incapable of representing our community, nor does it invalidate her election as a councillor.
There also appears to be an interesting contrast with neighbouring councils such as Goulburn Mulwaree and Yass Valley, where candidates have traditionally placed considerable emphasis on their individual candidacies. This raises the broader question of whether local government elections should encourage voters to make a deliberate choice between individual candidates rather than effectively endorsing a predetermined ticket order.
Accordingly, this brings us back to the mayoralty. The mayor is not merely another councillor. Under the Local Government Act, the mayor is the leader of the council and a leader in the local community, as well as the principal member and spokesperson of the governing body. Councillor Foley is now occupying that position. Whether a councillor who received only 19 first-preference votes personally has a sufficiently strong individual mandate to serve as the public face and principal spokesperson of a community of more than 50,000 people is ultimately a matter for the community to consider.
However, the more important question may be whether the current ticket-voting system gives voters a sufficiently meaningful opportunity to distinguish between the individual candidates they actually want to represent them. The Foley election provides a particularly striking example of why that question needs to be asked.
Sam Zilinskas, Bowral.
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