Almost 4000 candidates have been successfully nominated for the New South Wales local government elections, with 14 areas uncontested following the state Liberal Party's "monumental" nomination blunder.
NSW Liberal Party state director Richard Shields was sacked yesterday after it was revealed his office had missed the deadline to lodge nominations for next month's elections.
The state electoral commission today finalised the successful nominations of 3889 councillor and mayoral candidates.
As a result of the Liberal Party's error, there will be uncontested elections in the following 14 council, ward and mayoral elections:
- Berrigan
- Cobar
- Cowra
- Greater Hume - East Ward
- Junee
- Lachlan - Wards A, B, D and E
- Lockhart - Ward A
- Murrary River - Greater Wakool Ward
- Murrumbidgee - Jerilderie and Murrumbidgee East Wards
- Penrith - East Ward
- Tentefield - Ward B
- Uralla - Mayor, Wards A and B
- Warren - Wards A, B and D
- Warrumbungle
Residents in those council areas and wards will not be required to vote as the nominated candidates will be elected uncontested.
They will, however, be required to vote if there are mayoral elections, referenda or polls also being held.
A by-election will also be held at a later date for Berrigan, Cowra and Junee councils and Lachlan – Ward E to fill vacancies caused by an insufficient number of candidate nominations required to form council in those areas.
The NSW Liberal Party said it was taking immediate action to address the failure to make sure it never happens again.
"Effective immediately, all nomination fees will be refunded in full to those Liberal-endorsed candidates impacted by this failure," a party spokesperson said this afternoon.
"To prevent this from ever happening again, we are reviewing our process to thoroughly investigate what went wrong.
"We are fully committed to implementing all necessary changes to strengthen our processes."
Party Affairs Manager Wilson Chessell has been appointed as interim acting State Director until August 26 to conduct tomorrow's Epping by-election preselection.
"At that time further interim arrangements will be made until the recruitment of a new State Director is complete," the party spokesperson said.
Shields, who faced calls for his resignation ahead of his firing, blamed the administrative disaster on a lack of "secretariat resources".
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman described the error as a "monumental debacle" at a press conference earlier this week.
"Our party administration has let the candidates, the party members and the general public down," he said.
"If you don't have the adequate resources, you let candidates know and they can lodge their nominations themselves."
New South Wales voters, excluding those in the 14 areas, will head to the ballot box on September 14.