Voting in the Sydney Council elections has closed, with Sydney's first Aboriginal councillor, Yvonne Weldon, hoping to usurp long-time Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
The election day was marred by footage posted by Cr Weldon's team showing video of a man they identified as a volunteer for Ms Moore's campaign putting back up a corflute the speaker in the video alleges he tore down.
Cr Weldon, a Wiradjuri woman who grew up in the city's inner suburbs, made history three years ago when she became the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the city council in its 180-year history.
On Saturday afternoon she said the city needed a change.
"I've been very heartened by the response today and during this election," Cr Weldon said.
"I'm proud of our positive and community-led campaign. There's a strong desire for change."
Ms Moore has been Lord Mayor since 2004, and Ms Weldon said her majority was on "thin ice".
"After 20 years, the time is right for fresh leadership. My independent team are ready to lead," she said.
The 78-year-old's team had a history of winning slim majorities and has regularly defied the odds and criticism from high profile media entities to maintain her position over multiple elections.
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Earlier on Saturday, Ms Moore was forced to apologise after Cr Weldon's team published footage of a man putting back up a corflute the narrator of the video said he had taken down and replaced with Vote Clover signage at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern.
The speaker claimed the corflute was taken down from the fencing where a banner for Ms Moore's campaign now appears.
Taking to social media, the Lord Mayor's team apologised on Instagram, stating: "Sorry, this absolutely should not have happened. I'm told the volunteer was instructed to rectify and replace immediately."
She further added that she believed that the "volunteers sometimes get more excited about getting the right place, and posters were reinstated in a more prominent position".
Cr Weldon said an apology was the appropriate response, but the incident "shouldn't have happened in the first place".
"Really, we've experienced a lot of it since we have been putting out the corflutes. We've had so many disappointed volunteers that have said, the corflutes I put up, they're no longer there," Cr Weldon told media outside the Surrey Hills Library.
She added it was disappointing that the incident took place where it did, and "for the only Indigenous candidate, Aboriginal candidate, to be standing for the mayor of Sydney to have her posters being taken down".
As of 8pm local time Saturday night, Sydney Morning Herald was reporting Clover Moore had a "commanding lead" of about 40 per cent of first preferences in the race for the mayoralty with 12,000 votes counted.
More to come.
