source : the age
A senior Parramatta Liberal councillor has quit the party hours before a contentious vote for the city’s lord mayor, citing concerns about the Coalition’s growing connection to One Nation.
Councillor Tanya Raffoul announced her resignation on Monday morning.
“The Liberal Party’s growing policy and values alignment with a divisive political party, and its willingness to marginalise multicultural Australians, particularly across western Sydney, is disappointing,” she said in an Instagram post.
In her resignation, Raffoul, who previously served as chief of staff to Liberal corrections minister David Elliott, also cited the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public inquiry into Liberal Party operatives.
“The recent public inquiry has also raised very serious questions about the Liberal Party’s culture and the weight given to merit and a genuine commitment to public service,” she said.
Under Operation Rosny, the ICAC has been investigating Liberal figures and their relationship with fugitive property developer Jean Nassif. Among other allegations, it is investigating whether Nassif and his company Toplace made political donations in breach of the Electoral Funding Act 2018.
Elliott has appeared as a witness at the inquiry, where it was revealed that party operatives had sought, with Nassif, to spread false allegations about him having an affair as part of a plot against him.
Raffoul said she intended to continue serving on council as an independent for now, and her decision is affecting calculations ahead of a key mayoral vote on Monday night.
Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter has been serving in the role since 2024, and presides over an evenly split council.
Of the 15 councillors, six were from the Liberal Party, six represent Labor, with one Greens councillor and two independents.
After Raffoul’s resignation, the Liberals have been reduced to five councillors, and while it gives Labor a slender lead, it remains unclear how Raffoul’s decision will affect the vote on Monday night.
Raffoul did not respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, Zaiter said: “Whilst I am disappointed, we do live in a democracy.”
It comes less than a week since One Nation’s Barnaby Joyce said in a TV interview on News24 that he had held conversations with “very senior” Liberals about providing confidence and supply to the Coalition.
Despite clarifications from federal Liberal leader Angus Taylor and Nationals leader Matt Canavan that they had no such conversations, Joyce went on to declare his price for supporting the Coalition in the event of a hung parliament.
In return for making Taylor prime minister, One Nation would want pro-mining policies, new dams and the revival of the $45 billion inland rail project.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has previously claimed she wants to work with the Coalition, despite targeting Liberal and National-held seats at both state and federal elections.
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Mostafa Rachwani is a Parramatta reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously the Community Affairs reporter at Guardian Australia.Connect via email.
