Boundary changes

• Boundaries 1870–1908
• Boundaries 1908–1948
• Boundaries 1949–1968
• Boundaries 1968–1982
• Boundaries 1982–1988
• Boundaries 1989–2003
• Boundaries 2003–2004

Current composition and election method

Sydney City Council is composed of ten Councillors, including the Lord Mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The Lord Mayor is directly elected while the nine other Councillors are elected proportionally. The Deputy Lord Mayor is elected annually by the councillors. Although the fixed term of the council is four years, due to delays caused by amalgamations and the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous term lasted from 10 September 2016 to 4 December 2021.^[16]

The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council, including the Lord Mayor, is as follows:^[17]

The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election, is:^[18][19]

Business vote

Unlike all other local government area in NSW (which are governed under the Local Government Act, 1993), the City of Sydney is governed under the City of Sydney Act, 1988. On 25 September 2014, the NSW Liberal/National Coalition Government of Mike Baird, in conjunction with the Shooters and Fishers Party in the Legislative Council, passed the City of Sydney Amendment (Elections) Act, 2014, which allowed businesses to have two votes each in City of Sydney elections via a compulsory non-resident register that is maintained at the expense of the City Council.^[25][26][27]

Implemented for the 2016 election and maintained by Council at an annual cost of $1.7 million, the additional business roll was widely criticised as being an infringement on the democratic process and an attempt to gerrymander election results by the Liberal/National Coalition.^{[28][29][30][31][32]} At the time of the bill ABC election analyst, Antony Green, noted: "For eight decades both sides of NSW politics have viewed Sydney's Lord Mayoralty as a bauble to be delivered as soon as possible to someone that the new government thinks is right and proper to hold the position [...] Given the history ... it is a little difficult to view the proposed changes as anything other than being a state government trying again to get its way on who should be Lord Mayor of Sydney."^[33]

The Lord Mayor Clover Moore also expressed her opposition, seeing it as another attempt to attack her administration and that the new compulsory business register "placed an unworkable and costly burden on the council [...] One of the great flaws of the legislation was that it gives businesses two votes and residents just one, completely reversing one of the founding principles of Australia’s democracy: one vote, one value. [It] was not about business voting at all – it was about manipulating democracy."^[28] Moore's position has been supported by several community groups and also Labor Councillor and President of Local Government NSW, Linda Scott, who expressed her view that the business vote is "complex, costly and has no clear public benefit."^[28] However, one supporter of the business vote was former councillor Angela Vithoulkas: "Businesses and property owners pay over 72% of the rates [in the City of Sydney], they deserve to have a voice and exercise their democratic right."^[34] Following the 2021 council elections, the NSW Electoral Commission issued 18,501 failure to vote notices and fines to non-residential electors in the City of Sydney, representing 39% of all non-residential electors for the area.^[35]

On 13 September 2023, Ron Hoenig, the Minister for Local Government in the new Labor state government of Chris Minns, announced that the government had introduced the City of Sydney Amendment Bill 2023 and planned to be implemented at the next elections scheduled for September 2024, that would reverse the 2014 amendment act and remove the compulsory double business voting roll, and return to the system of optional single business voting.^[35][36] On this announcement Hoenig commented: "The amendments were made by the Liberals in a brazen attempt to oust Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore from office and give the party an electoral advantage in controlling the Sydney Town Hall. As expected, the amendments have clearly missed their target with thousands of non-resident ratepayers being slugged with fines for not voting instead. For nearly a decade, City of Sydney ratepayers have also been forced to foot an annual bill of approximately $1 million to maintain the non-residential electoral roll. Nowhere else in this state do we see one group of voters favoured in this way. It erodes the democratic process and undermines the vital importance of giving residents and ratepayers a balanced voice in local council elections."^[35] The City of Sydney Amendment Act 2023 passed the Parliament on 21 September, and received royal assent from the Governor on 27 September 2023, returning to the optional single business vote in city elections.^[37]

Environment

The City of Sydney has adopted various policies to reduce the council's climate impact, including strategies implemented since the 2000s to reduce car pollution by investing in mass and public transit^[38] and introducing a fleet of 10 new Nissan Leaf electric cars, the largest order of the vehicle in Australia.^[39] The council has also invested in bicycle infrastructure, and cycling trips have increased by 113% across Sydney's inner-city since March 2010, with approximately 2,000 bikes passing through top peak-hour intersections on an average weekday.^[40]

The City of Sydney became the first council in Australia to achieve formal certification as carbon-neutral in 2008.^[41][42] The city has reduced its 2007 carbon emissions by 6% and since 2006 has reduced carbon emissions from city buildings by up to 20%.^[40][43] In 2008, the council adopted the Sustainable Sydney 2030 programme, which outlined various energy targets, such as a comprehensive plan to reduce energy in homes and offices within Sydney by 30%.^[40][44] In the commercial space, reductions in energy consumption have decreased energy bills by $30 million a year in more than half of office spaces, and solar panels] have been installed on many CBD buildings in an effort to minimise carbon pollution by around 3,000 tonnes a year.^[45][46] Sydney has become a leader in the development of green office buildings and enforcing the requirement of all building proposals to be energy-efficient.

The One Central Park development, completed in 2013, is an example of this implementation and design.^{[47][48][49][50]} Proposals to make all of Sydney's future buildings sustainable and environmentally friendly by using recycled water, rooftop gardens, efficient and renewable energy.

Sydney Peace Prize

The City of Sydney is a major supporter of the Sydney Peace Prize.

Libraries

Friendship cities

• Paris, France, since 1998
• Berlin, Germany, since 2000
• Athens, Greece, since 2000
• Dublin, Ireland, since 2002
• Chicago, Illinois, United States, since 21 February 2019 (The City of Sydney considers the City of Chicago a "friendship city", while the City of Chicago considers the City of Sydney a "sister city.")^[52]
• Wuhan, China, since 2014^[53]