One of the leaders of the opposition to council mergers in Sydney's lower north has emerged as a primary challenger to the Berejiklian government's chance of retaining the seat of North Shore.
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Carolyn Corrigan, a councillor on Mosman Council, will run as an independent candidate for North Shore, the seat vacated by former health minister Jillian Skinner.
The seat was held by independents Ted Mack and Robyn Read in the 1980s, but has remained solidly Liberal since 1991.
Controversy over the state government's council amalgamation agenda has emboldened local independents, including Cr Corrigan, who was first elected to Mosman Council five years ago.
"I'm in this to win," said Cr Corrigan, who waited to declare her candidacy lest other independents also put their hand up.
Premer Gladys Berejiklian will confront her first electoral examination as Premier when byelections in North Shore, Manly and Gosford take place on Saturday April 8.
The Liberal Party has not yet endorsed a candidate for North Shore, held by Ms Skinner since 1994. The former premier, Barry O'Farrell, has endorsed his one-time chief of staff, Anna McPhee, for the spot.
Cr Corrigan, a nurse who works in the specialist clinical areas of pulmonary hypertension and heart and lung transplantation at St Vincent's Hospital, joined council after campaigning against parking meters at Balmoral Beach.
On council, she campaigned for two years, ultimately successfully, against a private nursing home on Middle Head. More recently, she has acted as the president of the Save Our Councils Coalition, which has mobilised against council mergers across the state.
"I enjoy the fight," Cr Corrigan said. "I actually do."
She said the impact of the B-Line bus network through Neutral Bay and Mosman, as well as over-crowding in public schools in the area, would form part of her focus.
"People feel that the area has been taken for granted, ignored, because it is such a safe Liberal seat," she said.
Ms Berejiklian has committed to merging councils in Sydney that have not yet amalgamated because of legal challenges. In North Shore, this means that should the legal challenges of Mosman Council and North Sydney Council be exhausted, they will be merged with Willoughby.
