Steve O'Brien for Lord Mayor of Newcastle

2026 City of Newcastle Council Lord Mayor by-election

Steve O’Brien, a lifelong peace activist, trade unionist and socialist, is the Socialist Alliance candidate in the April 18 by-election for Newcastle Lord Mayor. The campaign will be launched at an exhibition of Palestinian art and solidarity posters on March 28.

Steve was an ironworker at the steelworks for many years and retrained to work at TAFE. He has been an aid worker in Central America, the former East Timor and Southern Africa.

Steve has a PhD in health sociology, Master of Fine Art, post graduate diploma in information management and a diploma in project management. He has successfully managed signifcant budgets and staff teams for TAFE, NGOs and the United Nations.

“Local government is supposed to be the closest level of government to the people. However, our council is becoming less accessible and less democratic.

“I’m running for mayor because I want to bring council closer to the people. I want it to focus on what is best for our community.

“Council should not be commercialising public assets.

“Developing then leasing public assets to a commercial operator is just another form of privatisation that will subsidise private profit at the expense of our community.

“I don’t support spending tens of millions of dollars on projects like the 'Flintstones' kiosk at Foreshore Park and the proposal for a fancy privately operated restaurant at the Newcastle Ocean Baths.

“Council should also not be involved with war-related business, like the missile factory at the airport, or pay its top bureaucrats and CEO corporate-style exorbitant salaries.

"A people-first council would conduct genuine community consultations around issues like the Newcastle Basketball Stadium and manufacturing weapons on council-owned land.

“Consultations should be about really listening and responding to residents, not just a formality or box-ticking exercise.

“We need to bring local government back to the people. Make it accessible, democratic and reverse the corporatisation of Newcastle City Council.

“The major parties have turned government at every level into the slaves of corporate profit. We’ve seen what this has led to: run-down social services, reckless inaction in the face of the global climate emergency and — as we see so terrifyingly today — complicity in war and genocide.

"More people are fed up with Labor and the Coalition and are looking for change. The far-right parties are exploiting this mood to spread their toxic messages of hate and division. But look at where their hero Donald Trump is taking the world! They are not a real alternative to the Liberal-Labor failure.”

I Stand For

A people-focused Council
Getting out of war-related business - No to the missile factory at the airport
Genuine community consultation, including on the Newcastle Basketball Stadium
Making Council accessible and democratic

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Volunteer

We need people to hand out election fliers and how-to-vote cards and early voting and election day booths. Phone 0490 122 377 or email newcastle@socialist-alliance.org to volunteer or help with this campaign.

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We are a people-powered party and we need your help to fund our campaign in the April 18 Newcastle mayoral by-election.

Election donations may be directly deposited to:

Socialist Alliance NSW
BSB: 032-249
Account: 419436

Description: Newcastle mayoral

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