Ku-ring-gai Council

Ku-ring-gai Council New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney
Population	109,297 (2011 census)[1]
• Density	1,270.9/km2 (3,292/sq mi)
Established	1906 (Shire) 1928 (Municipality)
Area	86 km2 (33.2 sq mi)
Mayor	Cheryl Szatow
Council seat	Gordon
Region	Metropolitan Sydney
State electorate(s)	Davidson Ku-ring-gai
Federal Division(s)	Bradfield
Website	Ku-ring-gai Council
LGAs around Ku-ring-gai Council: Hornsby Hornsby Warringah Ryde Ku-ring-gai Council Warringah Ryde Willoughby Willoughby

Ku-ring-gai Council is a local government area in the north shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region is named after the Kuringgai tribe who once inhabited the area.

Major transport routes through the area include the Pacific Highway and North Shore railway line. Because of its good soils and elevated position as part of the Hornsby Plateau, Ku-ring-gai was originally covered by a large area of dry sclerophyll forest, parts of which still remain and form a component of the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. There are also many domestic gardens in the residential parts of Ku-ring-gai.

The Mayor of Ku-ring-gai Council is Cr. Cheryl Szatow, an independent politician.^[2]

At the 2012 local government election, David Ossip, a 20–year–old member of the Liberal Party, made history as he became the youngest person to ever be elected as a Councillor in the 106-year history of Ku-Ring-Gai Council. He was elected as the Council's Deputy Mayor in September 2015.^[3]

Suburbs and localities in the local government area

Suburbs and localities serviced by Ku-ring-gai Council are:

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 109,297 people in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area, of these 47.8% were male and 52.2% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.1% of the population, significantly below the national average of 2.5%. The median age of people in the Ku-ring-gai Council area was 41 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 20.6% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 17.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 61.5% were married and 6.1% were either divorced or separated; a rate that is approximately half the national average.^[1]

Population growth in the Ku-ring-gai Council area between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 0.93% and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 8.13%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in the Ku-ring-gai Council local government area was lower than the national average.^[4] The median weekly income for residents within the Ku-ring-gai Council area was significantly higher than the national average. At the 2011 Census, the area was linguistically diverse, with Asian languages spoken in more than 12% of households; more than four times the national average. Whilst the rate of all residents in the Ku-ring-gai Council area who nominated a religious affiliation with the Anglican Church has been declining over a number of Census periods, the proportion during the 2011 Census was 40% greater than the national average of 17.1%.^[1][5]

Selected historical census data for Ku-ring-gai Council local government area
Census year			2001[4]	2006[5]	2011[1]
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	100,152	101,083	109,297
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales
		% of New South Wales population			1.58%
		% of Australian population	0.53%	0.51%	0.51%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			25.8%
		Australian			21.7%
		Chinese			8.9%
		Irish			7.8%
		Scottish			7.2%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Cantonese	4.8%	4.7%	4.9%
		Mandarin	1.7%	2.3%	3.8%
		Korean	1.3%	1.5%	2.1%
		Persian (excluding Dari)	n/c	n/c	0.7%
		Japanese	0.9%	0.7%	0.7%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		Anglican	28.9%	27.1%	23.9%
		No religion	13.7%	16.3%	21.8%
		Catholic	20.9%	21.7%	21.1%
		Uniting Church	8.7%	7.7%	6.3%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	4.0%	n/c	3.6%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$716	A$814
		% of Australian median income		153.6%	141.1%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$2,147	A$2,679
		% of Australian median income		209.1%	180.9%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$2,530	A$2,508
		% of Australian median income		216.1%	203.2%

Council

Map of Ku-ring-gai Council with suburb boundaries.

Current composition and election method

Ku-ring-gai a Council is composed of ten Councillors elected proportionally as five separate wards, each electing two Councillors. All Councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is elected by the Councillors at the first meeting of the Council. The most recent election was held on 8 September 2012, and the makeup of the Council is as follows:^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

The current Council, elected in 2012, in order of election by ward, is:

Facilities

Major hospitals in the municipality include the Sydney Adventist Hospital located in the suburb of Wahroonga which is a private hospital serving that also serves the greater North Shore region. The nearest public hospital is the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital located in the adjacent Hornsby Shire.

Ku-ring-gai was rated first out of 590 Australian local government areas in the BankWest Quality of Life Index 2008.^[11]

Controversy

Planning and development

Apartments (circa 2008) in Lindfield

During the term of former Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, planning law reforms were passed that gave development approval to a panel and away from local government. These new laws were controversially implemented in Ku-ring-gai, with immense opposition from the local population who claim that their suburbs, with nationally recognised heritage values in both housing and original native forest, are being trashed by slab-sided apartment developments with no effective protection provided by either the Ku-ring-gai Council or the State Government. This has been termed "The Rape of Ku-ring-gai".^[12]

The laws are intended to take development approval power away from local councils and to the Planning NSW, via the development panels. Planning panels are about to be introduced across New South Wales under recently passed planning reforms. In 2005-06, Ku-ring-gai had the second highest reported total development value in the state - A$1.7 billion, more than Parramatta, second only to the City of Sydney.

Republicanism

Within days of taking office in 2008, the then Mayor, Elaine Malicki, had the Queen's portrait removed from the Council chamber and relocated to the Councillors room. This drew immediate criticism from previous Mayor and Councillor, Nick Ebbeck, who stated that could not believe the portrait disappeared overnight, Councillor Tony Hall, who described the action as "dictatorial and undemocratic",^[13] National Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, Professor David Flint AM^[14] and Mayor of Mosman Council, Dominic Lopez, who stated that "Her action is an insult to the residents of Ku-ring-gai and she had no right in the world to remove the portrait" and vowed that the Queen's portrait in Mosman Council Chambers "would never be taken away".^[15] After being inundated with further complaints and a motion by a majority of Councillors, the portrait was returned to its original place behind the mayor's chair in the chamber.^[13]

References

External links

• Ku-Ring-Gai Council
• Ku-Ring-Gai Art Centre and Gallery Artabase page