Political scientist Bronwyn Hayward said a heightened presence of two political parties around the city council table could lead to a divide.
Left-leaning and Labour aligned political group The People’s Choice managed to keep seven councillors around the table following the elections in spite of losing Glenn Livingstone, who lost out in the Burwood Ward to Phil Mauger, and Phil Clearwater who stepped down from the Spreydon Ward.
Newly-elected councillors Jake McLellan and Melanie Coker join incumbent People’s Choice councillors Andrew Turner, Anne Galloway, Pauline Cotter, Yani Johanson and Jimmy Chen.
However, they face increased competition from right-leaning political group Independent Citizens which has gone from having one seat to three. Newly-elected councillors Sam MacDonald and Catherine Chu will join fourth-term city councillor James Gough.
“I think that there is a risk that decision-making could become polarised along party lines, and that would be a real shame,” Dr Hayward said.
“With a heightened presence of two teams there is always a chance that they [city councillors] will become a little more polarised, and that would be a real shame.”
She thought asset sales could become a contentious issue between the two parties.
The People’s Choice has a firm policy against the sale of any city-own assets. Last year they block voted against a proposal to revalue the city’s assets.
Whereas Independent Citizens want to evaluate the city’s assets in order to see if it makes financial sense selling them.
The People’s Choice chairman Keir Leslie thought the “numbers did not add up” when it came to selling assets.
“It will be interesting to see if they [Independent Citizens] can come up with a realistic proposal.
“We hope that we can work to move the city forward and not get hung up on this divisive and frankly not going anywhere sideshow,” he said.
Independent Citizens councillor James Gough labelled The People’s Choice stance as “ideological.”
“I don’t think any of us will be pushing for asset sales, but I think Independent Citizens candidates will be pushing for evidence-based decision-making and that would include a review of assets,” he said.
