The 1983 New South Wales local elections were held on 24 September 1983 to elect the councils of the local government areas (LGAs) of New South Wales, Australia.[3][4][5]
A number of councils had their electoral structures altered prior to the 1983 elections. Bogan was reduced from ten to nine,[6] Tumut was reduced from ten to eight,[7] Warren increased from ten to twelve[8] and Wellington increased from ten to eleven.[9]
Gloucester, Kyogle, Murray, Murrumbidgee and Tallaganda were all increased from eight to nine councillors.[10][11][12][13][14]
In August 1983, local government minister Lin Gordon announced that elections for 13 councils would be postponed until 10 December 1983 while possible amalgamations were considered.[15] The City of Sydney and the municipalities of Ashfield, Botany, Burwood, Canterbury, Concord, Drummoyne, Leichhardt, Marrickville, Randwick, Strathfield, Waverley and Woollahra were all affected.[15]
A number of these councils appear to have eventually gone ahead with elections as planned on 24 September.[16][17] However, Ashfield, Canterbury, Leichhardt and Sydney did not, with their elections moved to 14 April 1984.[18][19][20][21]
The Liberal Party, which contested a number of LGAs for the first time, had a swing towards them.[16] In Wollongong, one member of the Active Community Team (ACT) was elected, while A Women in Local Government (WILGO) was unsuccessful.[16]
In Blue Mountains, the Communist Party of Australia unsuccessfully contested Ward 1 and Ward 4, receiving 1.91% and 1.94% of the vote respectively.[16][22]
Ted Mack was re-elected as mayor of North Sydney with 70% of the vote.[16]
At least one referendum was held.