Ned Mannoun and the western Sydney swing

16 Sep 2012, 3:05 pm   -   Source: Andy Park, SBS
Share This
0 
+ Comment
2

Liverpool in Western Sydney's Labor heartland has a new mayor: A US-born Lebanese Australian Liberal. Swings in key ethnically diverse seats have some seeking a link to Labor's fortunes on a federal level.

RELATED

By Andy Park

Liverpool in Sydney's west has traditionally been the Labor party's heartland.

But after decades of successive Labor councils, a change is in the air as the robes once worn by former Labor opposition leader Mark Latham are now worn by a Liberal.


"[For] a lot of people it's the first time they voted Liberal,” said new Mayor Ned Mannoun, a US-born, Lebanese-Australian Muslim who was officially inaugurated at the Liverpool Council chambers on Thursday.

"People wanted a change of attitude, they wanted a fresh approach and that's what we offered them," he said.

“For 21-years we have had a Labor mayor in Liverpool and the people here have felt neglected.”

With swings of between five and ten per cent in ethnically diverse areas like Blacktown, Bankstown, Parramatta and Campbelltown, a focus on true representation, especially in socially dynamic areas, has never been stronger.

The last census revealed that more than 70 per cent of people in Liverpool said that both their parents were born overseas, compared to the national average of 32 per cent, with Arabic being the most spoken language at home other than English.


Kevin Dunn is a social researcher at the University of Western Sydney and has studied attitude changes in migrant groups, particularly the Muslim community.

"The ALP would find it harder to automatically rely upon the votes of migrant groups as they become non-migrants, particularly those who have experienced a fair degree of social mobility,"

He said there are some common misconceptions of migrant attitudes.

“If you ask ordinary Muslims what's the number one issue for you and your family, it's the economy and jobs. What's the number two issue? It's education. Right down the bottom of the scale are international events," he said.

Professor Dunn said the Islamic community is coming to have a range of political views much like the Australian public, as it becomes more integrated.

“The changing social trend is that large parts of Western Sydney aren’t the stereotypical battler blue-collar areas anymore,” he said.

“It was always thus that there was social diversity across Sydney, there are pockets of affluence in Western Sydney and there are areas that are becoming more and more aspirational and certainly higher up the social ladder.

“Liverpool is no different, it’s not the battler blue collar area that it once was,” he said.

Labor MP for Chifley in Sydney's west, Ed Husic, was the first Muslim member of parliament and he welcomed more diverse Liberal candidates.
 
“I think it's been a long time coming, I think there were some in the Liberal party that were trying to use religious as a campaigning mechanism to be able to divide," he said.

"I think the big thing, and particularly in the Labor party, has been a focus to work with a variety of groups and you don't take people for granted"

But Mayor Mannoun said the writing is on the wall for Labor, at least it was in his recent council election.

"They thought that this was their heartland, this should have been the jewel in their crown, however they've let it down, they've let it run down, they haven't done anything to work for it." he said.

Professor Kevin Dunn said that as the demographic rapidly changes, so does political representation and warned that mainstream political parties must keep in step.

“We know from internationally, migrants within a generation become non migrants, very much in the look f them in terms of their social standing, their occupational profiles, their educational levels, their fertility rates: migrant quickly become non-migrants, and that’s what’s happened in large parts of Western Sydney,” he said.

As far as the next Federal elections goes, the fortunes of the mainstream political parties in Western Sydney might depend on the value placed on the grassroots of politics.

Liverpool , Labor , Andy Park SBS , Ned Mannoun

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

Liverpool fail

Nancy - from Cartwright, 9 months ago

I agree with David. Liverpool deserves a mayor that is reperesentative of the people - we do not want a power-hungry and selfish individual. The next 4 years are going to be interesting, that's for sure. I'm willing to give this Mannoun guy one chance, but as soon as he stuffs up (and he will), I'll be saying 'I told you so'.

Illegitimate Mayor

David - from Liverpool, 9 months ago

I am a resident of Liverpool and have been since birth, 42 years ago. I did not vote for this person and do not want him as my Mayor, although I have always been a Liberal voter. I believe this was more a protest vote where there was no other alternative to vote for the Liberal party and against the Labor party than to vote for this guy. I am extremely dissappointed that the NSW Liberal Party feel that Liverpool is not important enough to appoint a serious and credible candidate for Mayor.

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.