On the 25th of March 2023, New South Wales voters will head to the polls to elect the 58th Parliament of NSW. Western Sydney looms as one of the key battlegrounds for both major parties, with many long-term MPs and their fierce rivals retiring from politics.
This can lead to several seats switching from one party to another as happened in the 2011 election when Liberals took over a few electorates in Sydney’s west from Labor and secured victory for the Coalition.
The electoral district of Liverpool was not among them. This electorate has existed since 1950 and has never been held by any other party than the Labor party.
In the 2019 state election, there were two major candidates in the race – the incumbent (since 1995) ALP representative Paul Lynch and the new Liberal party representative, local martial arts instructor Paul Zadro. While the ALP won the seat by a clear majority (26,141 votes or 55.6% to 12,692 votes or 27%) it is worth noting that Paul Zadro as a newcomer to politics did take a 4-point swing of votes from Labor to Liberals.
Is this a sign of things to come for the 2023 election? With Paul Lynch retiring from politics after 28 years as a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly and handing the reigns to Liverpool councilwoman Charishma Kaliyanda, will this be the time for the Liberal Party to take the seat for the first time?
Currently, the only place with a candidate registered for the Liberal party in Liverpool is Tallyroom.com, and according to them, the Liberals are putting up popular new councilman Richard Ammoun. Along with Charishma Kaliyanda, and Richard Ammoun both representing the major parties, there is only one other declared candidate, a longtime Liverpool community campaigner Michael Andjelkovic who is running as an independent.
Charishma Kaliyanda is a local Liverpool councilwoman who, unlike many politicians, has had a normal job as an occupational therapist working for Headspace, the youth mental health organization. Charishma has served two terms on the Liverpool Council before declaring for the state election. Her platform seems to be largely about health and public education and TAFE. Considering the lead the ALP has and the seat’s history, one could quite confidently say that she will be the new State representative for Liverpool.
Richard Ammoun is currently serving his first term in the Liverpool Council.
Before that, he was with Strathfield Car Radios for 16 years before starting his own company Kleencorp. In 2022 Richard proposed a motion in Liverpool council that would see councillors pay for their own local government conferences. His motion stated that ratepayers should not foot the bill for councillors to attend local government conferences. Mr Ammoun was slammed by state representative rival Charishma Kaliyanda who saw the motion as an attack on her after attending the Local government women’s association conference, even labelling the motion as an “attack on women” and “a lunge back to the dark ages”.
The only other registered candidate currently is Michael Andjelkovic. He is listed as an independent and has previously run for the position of Mayor and for the state parliament in the 2019 elections where he secured 3,274 votes or 7%. Andjelkovic is officially listed as an independent candidate however his official Facebook page was promoting a 2022 fundraiser for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party at the Bonnyrigg Sports club and shares a lot of Mark Latham One Nation NSW posts too. Michael campaigns on successfully getting car parks for local train stations. However, according to the Liberal party the Edmonson Square car park project was already happening when Mr Andjelkovic started campaigning for it.
Keeping News Local will keep you informed of all the Liverpool candidates in the upcoming NSW state elections as they declare themselves as running.
