Newcastle Has a New Lord Mayor — and the City Has Spoken
- intouch Magazine
- Apr 20
- 2 min read
Newcastle welcomed a new Lord Mayor on Saturday, 18 April 2026, as independent candidate Gavin Morris swept to a landslide victory in the City of Newcastle's lord mayoral by-election.
The result was decisive and swift. By Saturday evening, Morris had secured close to 48 per cent of first preference votes — an extraordinary result in a field of six candidates that left little doubt about where Newcastle's community sentiment lay.
Behind him, the Greens' Charlotte McCabe received around 21 per cent of the vote, followed by Labor's Declan Clausen on approximately 16 per cent. Liberal candidate Jenny Barrie, Socialist Alliance candidate Stephen O'Brien and independent Milton Caine also contested the seat.
Morris, a familiar face across the Hunter after more than three decades as NBN's weatherman and, more recently, news co-anchor alongside Natasha Beyersdorf, stepped away from television at the end of 2025 when his role was made redundant following a restructure by Nine Network. It was, as it turned out, the opening of a very different chapter.
The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Lord Mayor Dr Ross Kerridge in February 2026, who stepped down due to the side effects of his cancer treatment. Kerridge — who had run as an independent and won the 2024 election — publicly endorsed Morris, and the community group Our Newcastle, which had backed Kerridge's own campaign, also threw its support behind the new candidate.
Morris, who grew up in Woodberry and has deep roots across the Hunter, ran as an independent and made no secret of his intention to govern from the centre — prioritising community over party politics. His election party, held at Thirsty Messiah Brewery in Broadmeadow, was a celebration not just of a win, but of what many Novocastrians clearly felt was a fresh direction for their city.
With two and a half years until the next local government election in September 2028, Newcastle's new Lord Mayor has both the mandate and the time to make his mark.
