Lucky dip for leadership

While federal politicians fret about how to govern without a majority, Waverley Council has come up with a democratic solution of their own: a lucky dip for leadership.

As Waverley approaches the third mayoral election of the current council term, all indications point towards a hung parliament of our own.

With Independent councillor Miriam Guttman-Jones supporting the Liberals, there is an even six-all draw in the chambers, and our next mayor will be drawn out of a hat for the third year running.

It has not yet been confirmed whether federal MP Bob Katter will be approached for the use of his hat.

Current Mayor Sally Betts has enjoyed the luck of the draw for the past two years, and hopes her winning streak will continue. The Director of Planning will conduct this year’s draw in place of the absent General Manager but does Councillor Betts believe this will bolster her fortunes?

“I don’t know! I think [former mayor] Ernie Page was drawn out of the hat three times in a row, so there is a precedent for it,” she said.

But as with the situation in Canberra, stability is a significant issue.

“I don’t believe it is good practice for the mayor to come out of a hat,” she said. “You cannot make any real changes, real reform.”

Councillor Guttman-Jones is the lynchpin in the Waverley Council chambers. Like the federal MPs currently featuring in the news, she believes party politics should be less prevalent in government.

She says that she does not sit with the Liberals on the basis of ideology, rather seeing this as her opportunity to “create a level playing field”.

“In the next mayor I would like to see less politics and more about the community,” she said. “If there’s instability it’s of their own making.”

Councillor Betts agrees that politics does not have a place in the mayor’s office.

“The mayor is the face of the council, irrespective of what party you come from,” she said. “I am not a Liberal mayor; I am the mayor of Waverley. The mayor needs to make decisions for the whole community.”

But she also believes that a council needs consistent leadership to make significant changes and hopes to discuss with her colleagues the idea of having a popularly elected mayor in the near future. This would be put to a vote in a referendum at the next local government elections in 2012.

The Labor-Greens coalition is meeting this week to decide on their candidate for mayor, the most likely candidate Councillor Dominic Wy Kanak of the Greens. Both parties are yet to decide on their candidates for deputy mayor.

Either way, it will be hats-off to the winner.

– By Hamish Boland-Rudder