There are 42 members in the Legislative Council with 21 elected for a terms of 8 years at each election. Legislative Council Members represent the state as a whole rather than particular electoral districts.

Liberal/Nationals candidates won 11 of the 21 Legislative Council vacant seats. Labor/Country Labor won five seats and the Greens, Shooters and Fishers, and Christian Democratic parties won one seat each.

The elected candidates are Mike Gallacher (L/N), Eric Roozendaal (L/CL), David Shoebridge (Greens), Duncan Gay (L/N), Gre Donnelly (L/CL), Jan Barham (Greens), Greg Pearce (L/N), Penny Sharpe (L/CL), David Clarke (L/N), Peter Primrose (L/CL), Rick Colless (L/N), Tony Kelly (L/CL), Scot MacDonald (L/N), Catherine Cusack (L/N), Natasha MacLaren-Jones (L/N), Peter Phelps (L/N), Niall Blair (L/N), Robert Brown (Shooters and Fishers), Paul Green (Christian Democratic – Fred Nile), Jeremy Buckingham (Greens), and Sarah Johnston (L/N).

The Labor now holds 19 of the 42 seats in the new Upper House while the Liberals hold 10, and the Nationals hold five.

The Greens now have four seats in the Upper House and the Shooters and Fishers Party has now two.

The Christian Democrats continue to hold two seats. Australian Democrat Arthur Chesterfield-Evans, member in previous upper house, has lost his seat.

With Labor and Coalition holding 19 seats and 15 seats, respectively, the Greens, Christian Democrats, and Shooters and Fishers will hold the balance of power in the new Upper House of the NSW parliament.

The six undecided electorates are Hornsby, Lakemba, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Sydney, and Wollongong – with three Labor candidates, two Independents and one Liberal as frontrunners.

Counting of votes for the 21 new members of the Legislative Council is yet to be completed.

New Premier Barry O'Farrell... promising to make NSW number one again

Coalition leader Barry O’Farrell becomes the state’s 43rd Premier in an election described as a “historic win” for the Coalition and a “bloodbath” for Labor.

As of last night, the Coalition had a 63.9% vs 36.1% lead on two-party preference voting.

The Coalition appeared to be gaining as many as 29 seats from Labor and was enjoying a statewide swing of about 17 per cent.

The largest swing, about 37 per cent, which even surprised the Coalition was recorded by Bathurst where the voters gave Bathurst regional mayor Paul Toole (Nationals) an overwhelming majority.

Last minute show of party support... outside a Western Sydney polling place

In the electoral districts known to have a concentration of resident population with Philippine background, Labor candidates John Robertson and Richard Amery were holding Blacktown and Mt Druitt, respectively, safe for Labor.

Voters queue during the first hour...

Labor seats Campbelltown, Londonderry, Parramatta, Mulgoa, Riverstone, Smithfield, and Strathfield were all heading towards Liberals way.

The NSW State election will be held this coming Saturday, 26 March, and polling booths around the state will be open from 9:00am to 6:00pm.

It is compulsory for all Australian citizens to vote.

If you are unable to make it to a polling precinct on election day or are interstate or overseas, you may be eligible to cast an early vote.

Early voting is available using the postal, prepoll or iVote options.

Prepolling started last Monday, 14 March and ends at 6.00pm on Friday, 25 March.

APCCII president Atoy Sayas

Filipino Australian voters in the Blacktown, Mt Druitt, Mulgoa, Riverstone, and Toongabbie electorates will have the opportunity to meet some of the candidates in a “Meet the Candidates” forum, said Australia Philippines Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc (APCCII) president Atoy Sayas.

The APCCII-sponsored forum will be held on Tuesday, 15 March at the Blacktown Workers Club Campbell Street from 6.30pm.

The candidates who have confirmed their attendance are Kevin Connolly (Liberal, Riverstone), Karlo Siljeg (Blacktown), Michael Vassili (Labor, Riverstone), and Ronaldo Villaver (Australian Democrats, Upper House), said Mr Sayas.

The other candidates invited to the forum are Filipino Australian Venus Priest (Liberal, Mt Druitt), and Labor candidates John Robertson (Blacktown), Richard Amery (Mt Druitt), and Nathan Rees (Toongabbie). Also invited to the forum are Christian Democrats candidate for Riverstone Allan Green, and Labor candidate for Mulgoa Prue Guillaume.

The Blacktown, Mt Druitt, Mulgoa, Riverstone and Toongabbie electoral districts are known to have a high percentage of resident population with Philippine background.

“The chamber has organized this event to empower the voters to make a clear choice in this coming state election,” said Mr Sayas.

Mr Sayas also said that each candidate will be given 3 – 5 minutes to speak, after which an open forum to be presided by a moderator will follow.

The reforms impose caps on political donations and electoral communication expenditure and provide for a restructure in public funding for NSW State election campaigns.

The caps on political donations relating to NSW State elections are set at from $2,000 for donations to or for the benefit of an individual or unregistered political party to $5,000 for a registered political party or group of candidates.

Other changes in election funding disclosure include a requirement that disclosure declarations be lodged every 12 months ending 30 June rather than every 6 months.

A technology assisted voting named “iVote” will be introduced for the NSW State election next month.

The voting system provides two voting channels, one by telephone and another by internet.

iVote will be available to voters “who are blind or have low vision to cast an independent vote, or to electors who are illiterate, or have other disabilities, live more than 20km from a polling place or will be interstate or overseas on election day.”

To use iVote, eligible electors need to register their intent to use the system. Registration started last Thursday, 17 February and will be opened until Wednesday, 23 March.

Eligible voters can self-register using a web based application service on the NSW Electoral Commission iVote internet site or by telephoning the NSWEC iVote call centre.

Candidates for Riverstone (L-R): Kevin Conolly, Rosie Bonham, Allan Green, Michael Vassili and Anthony Belcastro with Filpress moderator Tom Baena

Last night’s press conference with members of Sydney-based Filipino Press Group gave five candidates aspiring for the Riverstone seat an opportunity to present their political programs.

The one-and-a-half hour conference held in Doonside also gave the candidates an opportunity to speak about their personal life as well as their philosophy outside politics.

The five candidates, Anthony Belcastro (Independent), Rosie Bonham (Independent), Kevin Conolly (Liberal), Allan Green (Christian Democrats) and Michael Vassili (Labor) were each alloted two minutes to introduce themselves and present their political platform.

In the ensuing question-and-answer forum, no specific question was directed to an individual candidate.

All five candidates were each given one minute to answer each question thrown in by a panel pre-selected from members of the organising press group.

During the Q&A forum, the candidates were just too happy to elaborate on their platforms regarding State issues like roads, public transport, hospitals and health services.

The candidates also willingly shared their thoughts on Federal related issues like multiculturalism and National Broadband Network as well as on personal questions like “What would you do if you lose in this election?” or “What is it that makes you more qualified than the other candidates?”

The panel members were Romy Cayabyab (The Filipino Australian), Dino Crescini (Philippine Sentinel), Ronald Manila (SBS Radio), Aida Morden (Philippine Community Herald), Raquel Pellero (Radio Bandila), Nonoy Perdon (Bayanihan News), Millie Phillips (Ang Kalatas), Tom Baena (forum moderator), and Jimmy Pimentel (press group convenor).

The Riverstone electoral district has seven candidates for the March 26 NSW State election. It is considered as a hot battleground seat in next month’s election.

Based on NSW Electoral Commission’s records, the district has 56,978 enrolled voters, the biggest amongst the State’s 93 electoral districts, followed by Sydney’s 56,485 voters.

Mr Baena said that the Filipino press group of Sydney is organising a Meet the Press-style discussion with candidates facing a panel of interviewers who will be pre-selected from members of the press group.

The Filipino Australian website has gathered that to date there are seven candidates for the sole Lower House seat of the Riverstone electoral district in the March 26 NSW State election.

The Riverstone electoral district is currently held by the long-serving Parliament member, Mr John Aquilina (Labor), who last October announced his retirement from politics at the end of his term next month.

Riverstone is one of three electoral districts with concentration of resident population with Philippine background. The two others are Blacktown and Mt Druitt.

The meeting with the press will be held from 7pm on Thursday Feburary 17 at the Magnolia restaurant in Doonside.

Filipino Australian community leader Ronaldo Villaver will stand as one of the candidates of the Australian Democrats Party in the NSW Legislative Council (Upper House) in the coming March 26 State election.

Villaver was 2009 President of the Philippine Community Council of New South Wales (PCC NSW) and currently the Public Relations Officer of the Filipino Communities Council of Australia (FILCCA). He is also currently Vice Chairperson of the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales.

In his communication to The Filipino Australian, Villaver said that he will push for the priorities of the ethnic communities including support for the policies and services related to multiculturalism, increasing participation of ethnic communities in public life, and lobbying for increased budgetary allocations for Community Relations Commission in its funding assistance to non-for–profit organizations.

“Aside from multiculturalism, I will be proposing and reviewing bills related to education, better transport, supporting business and jobs, keeping people safe, healthy and stronger communities, better government as well as on the sustainable development of New South Wales,” added Villaver.

Legislative Council members in the NSW Parliament represent the state as a whole and are elected for a term of eight years.

There are 42 members in the Legislative Council, with 21 elected at each election.

In the Legislative Assembly (Lower House), one Member represents a single electoral district for a term of 4 years. New South Wales has currently 93 electoral districts.