18 September 2023
By Grahame Lynch
North Sydney Council’s ten councillors will meet later this month to elect a new mayor and deputy mayor—but candidates for both positions will not be asked to pitch their reasons for running or even to answer any questions about their plans for the future.
A majority of councillors voted to block a motion from Cr Jilly Gibson—a former mayor herself—which would have required candidates to make a pitch for why they should be elected or to answer questions about their candidacy. The September 25 vote will elect a mayor and a deputy mayor for the remainder of the current term, scheduled to last one more year until September 2024 popular elections.
Previously, North Sydney Council mayors were elected by a popular vote but that changed at the start of the current council to a system where the mayor is elected by fellow councillors.
Zoe Baker was elected in January last year against Ian Mutton by a margin of six to four. Neither Baker or Mutton spoke to their candidacy or answered any questions at the meeting prior to that vote, but that was partly excused by the novelty of a new voting system and a lack of conventions as to how it should proceed.
However, with nearly two years of subsequent experience and a doubling of meeting frequency this year in the name of transparency, Cr Gibson proposed at a meeting this week that candidates for mayor and deputy mayor be asked to address the council prior to the vote and answer any questions about their nominations.
Her motion was defeated 5-4, with one councillor, Ian Mutton, missing because he was stuck on a delayed flight. Incumbent mayor Cr Zoe Baker and fellow independent Cr MaryAnn Beregi along with Labor councillors Shannon Welch and Godfrey Santer as well as Sustainable Australia Party member Cr Georgia Lamb voted against the motion.
None of them, perhaps conscious of the potential irony, availed themselves of a speaking opportunity to explain why they opposed Gibson’s motion.
Gibson told the meeting that she did not think there should be a vote for a mayoral candidate “without hearing why that person thinks they should be nominated, without any justification or any words to the meeting for the councillors.”
“Surely, the community deserves to hear why someone thinks they should be voted in as mayor or as deputy mayor. I also think there should be an opportunity for councillors to be able to ask questions of the nominees or the candidates before they vote,” she told the meeting.
Gibson told the Sun that a part-time worker at McDonalds faces more questioning about their suitability for the job than an aspiring mayor of North Sydney does.
The election of a mayor and deputy mayor are expected to be the only items on the agenda on Sep 25.