Syriac Maronite Joseph Rahme elected mayor of Cumberland, Australia

CUMBERLAND, Australia — Joseph Rahme, a Lebanese-Australian councillor of Syriac Maronite heritage, has been elected mayor of Cumberland City Council in western Sydney, marking a new chapter in his 14-year career in local government. Rahme was elected unopposed at a council meeting on 30 September 2026, after being the sole nominee for the position. Rahme will serve a two-year term. His election is a milestone in a municipal career that began in September 2012, when he joined the former Holroyd Council. He continued serving in local government after Holroyd merged with parts of Auburn and Parramatta to form Cumberland City Council in 2016. He currently represents the Granville ward. Rahme is a Maronite Catholic whose family roots are in Lebanon. During his acceptance speech, he dedicated his achievement to his late father, Boutros, who migrated to Sydney from Lebanon on Australia Day in 1967.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by rahmeassociationofsydney (@rahmeassociationofsydney) “Who would have thought that a boy from Granville, born in Auburn Hospital, raised in a family of seven — sharing one room with his two brothers Raphael and John — and learning the values of hard work, humility, and community, would be entrusted with this responsibility,” Rahme said, as reported by The Courier Mail. He concluded his speech with a call for collective responsibility, echoing former US President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address: “Let’s not ask what Cumberland can do for us, but as leaders and a community, what we can do for Cumberland.”