Clover Moore's grip on power at Town Hall could be weakened after more than 20,000 "businesses" enrolled to vote in next month's council elections.
The increase in the size of the non-residential roll followed state government changes requiring business owners and operators to register to vote in City of Sydney elections, and granting those businesses two votes.
Independent Clover Moore says she would use a fourth term as Lord Mayor of Sydney to work with state and federal government on climate change.
On Monday, the City of Sydney released figures showing that 22,972 non-residential voters had been verified by the NSW Electoral Commission to vote on September 10.
That is more than 13 times the 1709 non-residential voters who registered at the last City of Sydney elections in 2012.
The increase could have a significant impact on the result of the council election. There were about 70,000 votes cast in the 2012 elections.
On past results, Cr Moore would be expected to retain her position as Sydney's Lord Mayor. She received just under 35,000 votes in 2012.
But the increased power of the business vote could rob her of her majority of support among fellow councillors. Because she has had a majority of support on council, Cr Moore has largely not had to horse-trade with other councillors to implement her priorities.
The City has had to spend up to $12 million implementing the controversial and confusing business voting changes, funds that came from the council's ratepayers. To do so it wrote to 138,000 "property owners, corporations, occupiers, sole traders and others" to tell them they were required to register to vote.
"There are a number of reasons why a person may be included on the City's register but not on the final electoral rolls – including if they are already on the City's residential roll, or if they are not an Australian citizen," the City said in a statement on Monday morning.
The ABC's election analyst, Antony Green, has described the business voting laws, finalised in 2015, as "inspired by malice".
Cr Moore's main competitors for the mayoralty and for other spots on council include the Liberals' Christine Forster, independent Angela Vithoulkas who has secured the support of former Liberal councillor Edward Mandla, and Labor's Linda Scott.
The increase in the size of the non-residential roll followed state government changes requiring business owners and operators to register to vote in City of Sydney elections, and granting those businesses two votes.
Independent Clover Moore says she would use a fourth term as Lord Mayor of Sydney to work with state and federal government on climate change.
On Monday, the City of Sydney released figures showing that 22,972 non-residential voters had been verified by the NSW Electoral Commission to vote on September 10.
That is more than 13 times the 1709 non-residential voters who registered at the last City of Sydney elections in 2012.
The increase could have a significant impact on the result of the council election. There were about 70,000 votes cast in the 2012 elections.
On past results, Cr Moore would be expected to retain her position as Sydney's Lord Mayor. She received just under 35,000 votes in 2012.
But the increased power of the business vote could rob her of her majority of support among fellow councillors. Because she has had a majority of support on council, Cr Moore has largely not had to horse-trade with other councillors to implement her priorities.
The City has had to spend up to $12 million implementing the controversial and confusing business voting changes, funds that came from the council's ratepayers. To do so it wrote to 138,000 "property owners, corporations, occupiers, sole traders and others" to tell them they were required to register to vote.
"There are a number of reasons why a person may be included on the City's register but not on the final electoral rolls – including if they are already on the City's residential roll, or if they are not an Australian citizen," the City said in a statement on Monday morning.
The ABC's election analyst, Antony Green, has described the business voting laws, finalised in 2015, as "inspired by malice".
Cr Moore's main competitors for the mayoralty and for other spots on council include the Liberals' Christine Forster, independent Angela Vithoulkas who has secured the support of former Liberal councillor Edward Mandla, and Labor's Linda Scott.
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