CANDIDATE PROFILE: Lesley Lynch

BY DAN BISHTON

Dr Lesley Lynch will be building on a long history of political engagement when she runs as part of the Clover Moore Independent Team in the Sydney City Council elections.
As an undergraduate in the early 1960s, she was an early campaigner for gay and lesbian rights, racial equality, and an early opponent to the Vietnam War.
‘I have always had a very active commitment to a whole range of social justice and social welfare issues,’ she says.
Dr Lynch began work with the Ethnic Affairs Commission in 1981, leading into a range of policy and organisational roles, including head of the Social Justice Unit for the Education Department, director of Curriculum for the State, and co-ordinator of the Environmental Protection Agency’s NSW Air Quality Program.
A Glebe resident, Dr Lynch has a strong view of Sydney City Council’s role in state governance.
‘When the Labor Government forcibly amalgamated South Sydney and the City [Councils], like a lot of people around here, I was pretty angry,’ she says.
‘I think that it is urgent that Sydney City Council is kept independent at this particular point in time.’
As newest member of Clover Moore’s team, Dr Lynch is passionate about their vision for the City’s future.
‘Sustainable Sydney 2030 is a pretty impressive document,’ she says.
‘It has that magic of a vision that I think resonates with a lot of people, and a very smart set of doable projects in it.’
‘If we can achieve building a city that has both that village dimension within it ‘ decent living spaces, at the same time we make Sydney a global, thriving city ‘ the sort of city it can and should be, that would be fantastic.’