The Peninsula votes evenly

An analysis of Gosford Council election results has shown even voting on the Peninsula for Labor and Liberals.

Both parties picked up close to 25 per cent of the vote.

This contrasts with Gosford as a whole, where Liberals out-polled Labor more than two to one, with the Liberal Party picking up almost 40 per cent of the vote.

A total of 16,902 votes were counted at Peninsula polling booths for the September 13 election.

Of these, 3991 above-the-line votes (23.6 per cent) went to the Liberal Party, only marginally ahead of the Labor Party with 3807 votes (22.5 per cent).

Next, with 2167 votes (13.1 per cent), was the Greens Party, followed by 1851 votes (11.0 per cent) to Central Coast First and 698 (4.1 per cent) to independent Craig Doyle.

The only Peninsula resident elected to Gosford Council was Greens candidate Peter Freewater of Horsfield Bay.

However, three other councillors - Jeff Strickson, Terri Latella and Jim Macfadyen - come from surrounding areas of St Hubert's Island and Pretty Beach.

A total of eight Peninsula residents stood for Gosford council at the recent September 13 local government elections.

Craig Munnings from Booker Bay and Katie Smith from Woy Woy stood as Labor Party candidates.

Munnings gained a total of 249 individual votes from Peninsula polling booths and Smith a total of 120 individual votes.

Debra Wales and Janice Hawkins both from Umina Beach were candidates under sitting councillor Trevor Drake's ticket.

Wales took out a total of 138 individual votes and Hawkins gained 47 individual votes from the 12 polling booths on the Peninsula.

A total of 126 individual votes went to Peter Freewater.

The Central Coast First Party was represented by Tina Addison from Umina, who gained 43 individual votes from Peninsula voting locations.

Enriquez Lulette of Umina stood as a candidate on Craig Doyle's ticket, gaining 14 individual votes, while Aaron Henry (six votes) also of Umina stood as a Liberal Party candidate.

The new council is comprised of four Liberal councillors (Chris Holstein, Chris Burke, Amy Housten and Jeff Strickson), two Labor (Jim Macfadyen and Vicki Scott), two Greens (Terri Latella and Peter Freewater), one Central Coast First (Laurie Maher) and one independent (Craig Doyle).

Former Liberal councillors Malcolm Brooks and Trevor Drake, who both stood as independents, and Central Coast First's Peter Hale were not re-elected.

Cr Robert Bell did not seek re-election.

Website, 26 Sep 2008 NSW Electoral Commission Clare Graham, 26 Sep 2008