Bilal El-Hayek has been re-elected unopposed as Mayor of the City of Canterbury Bankstown, placing him in charge of a 15-councillor chamber during one of south-west Sydney’s biggest periods of infrastructure and population change.
The vote took place at an extraordinary Council meeting on 8 September 2026, with the result announced on 9 September. Councillor Rachelle Harika was also re-elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor, giving the merged council leadership continuity as major transport, hospital, housing and recreation projects progress.
The projects will affect residents across more than 40 suburbs. They include the planned 2026 opening of the Sydney Metro extension between Sydenham and Bankstown, the $2 billion new Bankstown Hospital, the $400 million Canterbury Hospital redevelopment and the Canterbury Leisure and Aquatic Centre, which is scheduled for completion in late 2026.
El-Hayek said the result carried a responsibility to work across the council and its diverse communities. The mayor thanked councillors, family members, friends and supporters before describing his re-election as a privilege and committing to collaboration with councillors, staff and residents.
"I am honoured to have been re-elected as Mayor of Canterbury-Bankstown and thank my fellow councillors for their continued confidence and support," El-Hayek said in a statement published by the City of Canterbury Bankstown. He said the coming period would be significant for the city as major projects and town-centre planning reshape local growth.
Harika will continue as deputy mayor. She has represented the Bass Hill Ward since 2017 and is a lifelong Yagoona resident, while El-Hayek was first elected to the merged council in September 2017 after arriving in Australia from Lebanon at age 12.
His route into local government began in Lakemba before he settled in Greenacre. He served twice as deputy mayor and was first elected mayor in May 2023, giving him experience in both the council chamber and its senior leadership.
The unopposed vote is significant because residents do not directly elect Canterbury-Bankstown’s mayor. They elect ward councillors, and the councillors then choose the mayor after the council is constituted, making cross-chamber relationships central to the role.
Canterbury-Bankstown has five wards: Bankstown, Bass Hill, Canterbury, Revesby and Roselands. The 2024 election produced a mixed chamber, with Labor holding the largest bloc alongside Liberal, Greens, Community Voice, Our Local Community and independent councillors, so an uncontested leadership result indicates that El-Hayek retained sufficient support across the chamber.
The council’s infrastructure agenda spans different levels of government. The metro extension and hospital projects are state-led investments, while the aquatic centre, roads, parks, libraries and town-centre planning sit within the council’s local responsibilities.
Residents should not treat the metro project as an operating service yet. Official project information lists the Sydenham-to-Bankstown section for completion in 2026, with the passenger opening date subject to final approvals, while construction activity may affect station access, replacement transport and travel patterns.
The aquatic centre is planned for Tasker Park on Phillips Avenue in Canterbury. Its facilities are expected to include a 50-metre outdoor pool, indoor pools, a splash park, gym, cafe and accessible change facilities, although the council says the late-2026 timing remains dependent on construction conditions and weather.
El-Hayek said the facility would serve the wider community and referred to the moment he would use its pool. The Tasker Park precinct also includes the Canterbury Ice Rink, basketball facilities, the Cooks River corridor and shared-path connections, making the project part of a broader local recreation and public-space network.
For residents assessing the new term, the practical test will be delivery across the five wards. Council meeting papers and project updates will show how planning decisions translate into roads, public transport access, health services, open space, housing and community facilities in individual suburbs.
The leadership change also sits within an unresolved debate about the council’s size. Canterbury-Bankstown was created on 12 May 2016 through the merger of the former Canterbury and Bankstown councils, and the council later investigated whether the two areas should be restored as separate local government areas.
That process was halted in November 2023 unless the NSW Government agreed to fully fund it, and the council said it continued advocating for funding in 2026. De-amalgamation has not been approved, and any split would involve assets, staff, finances, rates, contracts, planning responsibilities and service networks.
The former Bankstown area covered about 78 square kilometres and had more than 228,000 residents, while former Canterbury covered about 33.4 square kilometres and had more than 161,000 residents. The council’s own comparisons put the estimated replacement value of existing assets at about $3.25 billion for Bankstown and $1.75 billion for Canterbury.
Supporters of the merger argue that a larger council can coordinate infrastructure and manage growth across a wider area, while critics say a large authority can feel distant and dilute local identity. SBS Arabic reported in 2023 that Arabic-speaking and Lebanese communities welcomed El-Hayek’s first mayoral appointment, while online community discussions have also questioned whether council should focus more narrowly on local services and amenity.
Those online comments are anecdotal rather than representative polling. They do, however, reflect the competing expectations attached to a mayor who leads a culturally diverse council while residents also judge performance through roads, planning, public facilities and day-to-day services.
The next term will therefore be measured against both delivery and governance. El-Hayek and Harika have continuity, but they will still need to demonstrate that a council covering more than 360,000 people can distribute infrastructure benefits fairly while managing growth and the continuing amalgamation debate.
Related to This Story
City of Canterbury Bankstown
The City of Canterbury Bankstown is a south-west Sydney local government area created on 12 May 2016 through the merger of the former Canterbury and Bankstown councils. It has 15 councillors across five wards and manages local roads, parks, libraries, community facilities, planning and town-centre development.
Bilal El-Hayek
Bilal El-Hayek is the mayor and a councillor for the Bankstown/Darani Ward. He was first elected to the merged council in 2017, served twice as deputy mayor and became mayor for the first time in May 2023.
Canterbury Leisure & Aquatic Centre
The Canterbury Leisure & Aquatic Centre is being developed at Tasker Park on Phillips Avenue, Canterbury. The planned facility includes indoor and outdoor pools, a splash park, gym, cafe, group fitness rooms and accessible facilities, with completion expected in late 2026.
El-Hayek’s re-election gives Canterbury-Bankstown a settled leadership team as the council moves through a demanding construction and planning program. The first visible measure of the new term will be whether promised projects produce practical improvements for residents in each ward.