Alliances ... independent candidate Alex Greenwich was endorsed by former Labor premier Kristina Keneally. Photo: Mick Tsikas
On Wednesday night, Shayne Mallard sat at the centre table at Eight Modern restaurant in Chinatown, with his partner, Jesper, on one side and the Premier, Barry O'Farrell, on the other.
They were joined by stars of the NSW Liberals' moderate faction and scores of supporters to launch Mallard's campaign for Sydney at next Saturday's byelection.
It's a seat the party has been locked out of for 24 years. They came close in 2011 but couldn't topple the sitting member, independent Clover Moore. Now they're excited about a comeback.
Liberal candidate Shayne Mallard speaks to locals around Pyrmont. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Moore won the seat, formerly known as Bligh, in 1988. She leveraged her popular brand of green-tinged, pro-gay rights grassroots politics in the area, which is increasingly young, educated and upwardly mobile, to also become the City of Sydney's lord mayor in 2004.
But legislation passed by the O'Farrell government in April pushed Moore to choose between her two jobs and led to her resignation from Parliament.
Three candidates are locked in the race to succeed her. Mallard, a 12-year veteran of South Sydney and the City of Sydney councils, is the Liberals' hope. The 48-year-old has worked in politics, small business, marketing and lobbying. He is gay, a cyclist and a republican and would be among the more progressive members of the O'Farrell government.
The Greens' Chris Harris. Photo: Brendan Esposito
''Parties are advantaged to have candidates running for them who actually share the values of the people they represent. Shayne certainly does that,'' O'Farrell says.
Clover Moore has backed the independent Alex Greenwich, 31, who has spent five years at the helm of Australians for Marriage Equality.
His pitch is to fight the coalition government on education cuts, any public housing sell-off and to champion environmental sustainability.
''My parliamentary experience advocating for equality has proven I can run strong community campaigns,'' he says. He also wants a series of grants for small businesses to embrace new technology.
His profile has been helped by endorsements from prominent figures, including Dr Kerryn Phelps, former president of the Australian Medical Association.
He also expects to capitalise on anger at the legislation that forced Moore to resign: ''I think the collective outrage at the O'Farrell government will be represented when people go to vote.''
Mallard dismisses that.
''This byelection is not some Hollywood production, it's not about revenge and it's not about one single issue,'' he says.
He repeats the mantra this is a ''bread-and-butter'' byelection, and has campaigned on improving bus services and pushing for light rail down Oxford Street.
The Greens are also fielding a City of Sydney veteran, former councillor Chris Harris. The party polled 29 per cent of the upper house vote in 2011.
Neither Greenwich nor Mallard is allocating preferences, which is optional in NSW elections.
''This refusal by Greenwich may deliver a Liberal win,'' says Harris, 61, whose preferences will go to Greenwich and another independent. Harris is pledging to fight for more pre-school places, and against proposed new ''strategic'' planning laws.
''I'll be contacting all of those [community] groups and using a really loud voice to tell the government this idea of consulting upfront and then letting development rip for the next 10 years is not going to work,'' he says.
NSW Labor is not endorsing anyone, but Greenwich and Harris were invited to pitch to ALP branch meetings.
A former Labor candidate for Sydney, Sacha Blumen, says he'll vote for the Greens for their policies and because Harris pledged to support a minority Labor government if need be.
''Greenwich has said he'd be open to supporting a minority coalition government,'' Blumen says. Greenwich told the Herald he intended staying on the crossbench but if forced to choose he would consult the community on the decision.
Former Labor premier Kristina Keneally supports Greenwich: ''I'm impressed by his intellect, his pragmatic approach to problem solving, his passion and compassion.''
Mallard is hoping his endorsement - from the party in government - will be more powerful. ''The electorate has been a protest electorate under the former member,'' he says. ''Our offer is 'come in to government, be part of the government, part of the process.' ''
At Wednesday's campaign launch, he pledged: ''I will not hesitate to speak out in the interest of my constituents.''
ABC election analyst Antony Green says a victory by Greenwich depends on ''how much of Clover Moore's vote he can hang on to''. The other challenge for him, and Harris, is persuading voters they can be served from the backbench.
Moore says it can be a powerful spot.
''A hardworking, effective independent can achieve a lot,'' she said. ''How many government backbenchers can you name? They certainly knew who I was.''
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