Former federal Liberal minister Philip Ruddock has claimed property developers, supported by people within his own party, were behind a “professional campaign” to oust him as mayor of Sydney’s Hornsby Shire council.
The 81-year-old will not contest the mayorship at September’s New South Wales local government elections, after losing a preselection ballot to Liberal councillor Warren Waddell by 60 votes on Monday.
The NSW Liberal leader, Mark Speakman, dismissed Ruddock’s claims but paid tribute to his “exemplary” service as a “giant of the Liberal party”.
Ruddock on Tuesday claimed the campaign to remove him had been managed by developers who wanted to rezone and build on Hornsby’s semi-rural suburbs even before there was adequate infrastructure in place to support additional homes.
“Those interests were managing a campaign, and the campaign was pushed on the basis that it’s essentially time for change,” he said.
“I won’t say they compared me to [US President Joe] Biden, but they look at it and say, you know, ‘Time to move on, make way for generational change’.”
Speakman, who was in the area on Tuesday morning with the Liberal candidate for the upcoming byelection state electorate of Hornsby, refuted Ruddock’s claims.
“This is not a vote of the of some development lobby group. This is a vote of members here in Hornsby. It’s a democratic process, and I respect the outcome,” he said.
Ruddock’s successor, Waddell, is one of three councillors on Hornsby council representing Ward A, which encompasses Dural and other semi-rural areas in the north of the local government area, on Sydney’s northern fringe.
Guardian Australia has approached Waddell for comment.
Ruddock, whose 50-year career in public life included serving as immigration minister in the Howard government, said he was “obviously very disappointed”.
Ruddock entered federal parliament in 1973 representing the seat of Parramatta and served as a Liberal MP for 43 years.
He was elected as mayor of Hornsby Shire in 2017, the year after he retired from federal parliament.
The Minns Labor government is targeting Hornsby as one of the areas it has earmarked for increased development with rezoning around the existing train station under its Transport Oriented Development (Tod) policy.
However, Ruddock said the Tod was “irrelevant” to the campaign to oust him.
“When I talk about property development interests, I’m talking about all the five acre, the 20 acre blocks out in the rural areas,” he said.
The premier, Chris Minns, on Tuesday said Ruddock had been a “good partner” with the government in pushing for “sensible” planning and density in Hornsby.
“So, notwithstanding the fact he’s on the other side of politics, he has been – I think – probably good for the Shire,” Minns said.
