Lord mayoral challenger Ross Kerridge says Newcastle council has faced "too many controversies" as he launches his campaign to unseat Nuatali Nelmes in Labor preselection.
Dr Kerridge, a senior staff specialist at John Hunter Hospital and University of Newcastle associate professor, nominated for Labor lord mayoral preselection on Thursday.
All other incumbent Labor councillors are facing preselection challenges across the city's four wards.
Several hundred eligible Labor members are expected to cast votes on February 17 to decide who will represent the party at the September local government elections.
NSW Labor head office confirmed on Friday that Cr Nelmes will receive a 20 per cent ballot loading as part of the party's affirmative action provisions, meaning she can secure preselection with 45.5 per cent of the vote.
Two party sources said Dr Kerridge faced an uphill battle to gain the numbers required while another gave the anaesthesiologist a chance of victory.
The last time Cr Nelmes faced a Labor preselection contest she lost 60 per cent to 40 per cent against Tim Crakanthorp before the 2014 Newcastle state by-election.
She has won comfortably the three Newcastle lord mayoral elections she has faced, in 2014, 2017 and 2021, each with a steady 42 per cent of first preferences.
Asked if his preselection challenge was a sign he believed it was time for a change of leadership, Dr Kerridge said: "I don't think anyone should consider that their seat is a sinecure to be unchallenged forever.
"That applies at state, local and federal level. And that's healthy."
He said he did not know if he had the numbers to win "but that's not the point".
"The point is that in a healthy party there should be a choice."
Dr Kerridge is also on a ward-three ticket headed by Linda Barter and including Georgetown-Waratah branch secretary Justin Davis at number three.
The Herald reported last month that Cr Nelmes' lord mayoral chief of staff, Matt Murray, had formally charged Mr Davis under party rules with "disloyalty and unworthy conduct" over the election of delegates to the local government committee.
The council has been embroiled in public disputes with sections of the community over Supercars, Newcastle Maritime Museum, the Newcastle Now and Hamilton business associations and the private operation of its inland pools during the past two council terms.
Cr Nelmes and other Labor councillors also have been involved in a public feud with Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery which has divided party members.
Council chief executive Jeremy Bath has been an unapologetically forthright advocate and defender of the council's position on many of the contentious issues.
Dr Kerridge said he was concerned about the "unnecessarily combative" way some senior council staff had interacted with "very respected members of the community".
"Senior council staff have sometimes bought into the role that should be more appropriately done by the councillors and should be the quiet engine in the background rather than buying into policy disputes.
"I think sometimes we've seen arguments on council and people have had the impression the council could focus on the community.
"The days of the Robbo [former councillor Allan Robinson] instance were perhaps worst, and [former mayor] Jeff McCloy, but there's been too many controversies.
"An infusion of new faces may be an appropriate thing."
Dr Kerridge, who has been a party member since he was 18, said the widespread challenge to Labor incumbents was "a matter of people wanting choice and a real preselection".
"At the last election that didn't happen because of COVID.
"In a healthy party there will be a clash of talents and different people putting their hand up at different times, and that's the way it should be."
Asked if the across-the-board preselection challenge was unusual, Dr Kerridge said: "There's probably a bit of built-up energy.
"There are people who have been number two on the ticket a number of times. Ultimately, there will be people who say, 'I want to have a go, too.'"
The Herald reported last month that Adamstown branch member Paige Johnson would head up a ticket challenging councillor Carol Duncan in ward two.
Beresfield branch secretary Tahlia Kelso announced on Thursday that she had nominated in ward four on a ticket with Mary Harrington and Julie Davies.
Newcastle Labor local government committee member Sandra Feltham has nominated in ward one against deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen on a ticket with Shirley Schulz-Robinson and Lezlie Tilley.
The Herald approached Cr Nelmes for comment.
