Tamworth Council elections: Labor to run a five-candidate ticket in Tamworth council elections

Union organiser, and 2019 state election candidate in the 2019 election, Stephen Mears, will top the ticket of five Tamworth locals, he told the Leader.

The move could mean a first for Tamworth: an endorsed candidate from a major party taking a council seat.

Mr Mears said the party had a very good chance at taking at least one or possibly more seats, pointing to a rising ALP vote at state and federal elections.

READ MORE:

He said they hoped to bring a "different set of values" to the local government body and represent a new segment of the community.

For starters, he said achieving council's ambitious target for a city of 100,000 by 2041 means Tamworth needs new infrastructure now.

"I think growth in any region is a good idea, but I think infrastructures have to be in place before they occur.

"We need to upgrade sewerage recycling, the tip, all those things that council control need to be grown now, to open the pathway for people to come into the city," he said.

"Build it and they will come."

He said the move wasn't about bringing partisan politics into what he said was an already divided and partisan political organisation.

"I don't think realistically we'll be a real political interference on the council. We're all locals. Realistically, in the past, this council's shown itself to be political anyway. It wasn't all that long ago that the local mayor was predominantly campaigning for the National party," he said.

"We're not planning to go to council to make it a big Labor issue, we just want to go on council to represent that portion of the community. And hopefully bring those fresh ideas to council. There's a lot of good ideas running around council that don't seem to get legs.

"There seems to be a divide on there politically anyway. There's an us and the independents."

The party will also endorse as candidates school crossing supervisor Mick Lawlor, union organiser Serge Rindo, and educators Denise McHugh and Laura Hughes.

Want more local news? Subscribe to the Leader to read it here first

They are "more people than politicians", Mr Mears said.

The Liberal party endorsed a trio of candidates at the last local council elections, but all were unsuccessful.

Labor endorsed a pair of candidates at the 2008 council elections, but both were unsuccessful.

Party candidates have been more successful in the New England highlands.

Armidale Deputy Mayor Debra O'Brien successfully contested a council seat with the endorsement of the Labor party, and former Deputy Mayor Dorothy Robinson was endorsed by the Greens. The Mayor of Glen Innes Carol Sparks is an endorsed Greens councillor.

Mr Mears won just 8.17 per cent of the vote in the 2019 state election, winning fourth place.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: