Invitations, or the lack of them, have Shellharbour City Council’s political foes equally hot under the collar on the eve of the Liberals announcing their state election candidate.
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The snubbing of Shellharbour’s ALP Mayor Marianne Saliba and council staff from the opening of the new Shellharbour Junction railway station was described as ‘‘a slap in the face’’ for the Shellharbour community, according to Labor supporters.
However the presence of ex-Liberal councillor and Shellharbour Deputy Mayor Paul Rankin at a Labor Party fund-raiser was a ‘‘betrayal’’ according to the Liberals, who are expected to announce this weekend that accountant Mark Jones will be their candidate for the seat of Shellharbour.
Cr Saliba said she had written to Premier Mike Baird and Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian expressing her disgust at the way the station opening was handled.
‘‘Council staff had worked closely with Transport for NSW and I am the representative of Shellharbour City,’’ Cr Saliba said.
‘‘The opening looked like a Liberal Party branch meeting at a train station – Ann Sudmalis was there, Kellie Marsh, even a Liberal Wollongong councillor, Bede Crasnich, got an invite.
‘‘Gareth tried to tell me the decision on who is invited rests with the minister, but he knows that is not correct, he forgets I am a former state MP and I know how it works.
"I am appalled at the way council has been treated over this.’’
Mr Ward said he was not going to get involved in ‘‘naming comps and a debate over invitation lists’’.
"I tried to have a number of conversations with [Cr Saliba] about issues with the station but she was too busy to take my calls," Mr Ward said.
In the meantime, Mr Ward said Cr Rankin had been ‘‘caught red-handed’’ at a Labor Party function in support of Labor MP Anna Watson.
Cr Rankin’s presence made Ms Watson’s claims in a City Hub debate that Shellharbour council had two Labor councillors and the rest were ‘‘a dog’s breakfast’’ look ridiculous, Mr Ward said.
‘‘Paul Rankin has betrayed every single Liberal voter that voted for him at the last election, and the photograph proves it,’’ Mr Ward said.
Cr Rankin was elected as a Liberal councillor, but quit the party before he could be suspended for not supporting the Liberal Party’s preferred mayoral candidate, Cr Marsh.
Cr Rankin said he attended the ALP fund-raiser to listen to the guest speaker, former Premier Kristina Keneally.
‘‘I am an independent councillor and I can listen to whoever I want,’’ Cr Rankin said.
‘‘I am not a member of the Liberal Party so I don’t see there is a problem ... I don’t owe the Liberal Party anything after what happened to me.
‘‘Anna is the member for Shellharbour and I think she is a nice person, she has always been polite to me. I haven’t been invited to one of Gareth’s events ...so why should I worry about it?’’
