Whose Sydney
Sydney is divided into local councils, and the NSW government has just forced two of them to merge: South Sydney (where I live) and City of Sydney. The two council governments have been dissolved and elections will soon be held to form the new membership, including a new Lord Mayor. The rationale is simple: NSW wants fewer councils because they cost money. But there’s more to it than that. The NSW government is headed by the Labour Party, but City of Sydney was Liberal. By merging the city with South Sydney, a Labour bastion and more populous to boot, NSW hopes to force a Labour Council into place with their mayoral candidate, Michael Lee, thereby giving their development plans – for Sydney’s foreshore, for example – a nod-and-a-wink edge over any potential opposition and getting the tax revenue this will occasion. Bob Carr appears to be having trouble managing Sydney’s growth, and this council merger appears to me to give him an easy out. Development will be funded by the richer city tax base at the expense of the Labour Party electorate’s standards of living in South Sydney. Enter Clover Moore, an independent and perennial thorn in Carr’s side. If I had a vote, that’s where I’d put mine. I like the idea of spiking irresponsible development plans by an underhanded state government, and I like Moore herself, not least for her proposal to end the sale of animals in pet stores, a practice well-known for its cruelty.