“The mayor should act as a servant of the community”: City of Sydney reviews

by GRACE JOHNSON

Should Lord Mayor Clover Moore AO be stripped of her titles and robes?

Amidst the ongoing review into the City of Sydney’s symbols and emblems, the Lord Mayor’s titles, robes and chains have been called into question.

Independent Councillor Yvonne Weldon has asked the council to drop the mayor’s titles of Lord Mayor and Right Honourable, saying they are outdated, colonial, and have no place in contemporary society.

As the level of government closest to the people, local government should be the least formal and most accessible, said Cr Weldon. ‘Lord’, like ‘master’, implies superiority to the community.

Rather, “the mayor should act as a servant of the community,” she said in her address to council.

Cr Weldon’s motion, debated at the City’s first council meeting on February 19, said imperial honours, titles and awards had long been abolished at both national and state levels.

The motion also requested that the robes, chains, and other trappings of the mayor’s office be included in the review of the City’s symbols and emblems.

The Lord Mayor first called for a review into Sydney’s emblems and symbols in August 2022, in a motion which was adopted by council.

However, little progress has been made since then, which Cr Weldon described as “very disappointing.”

In January, ahead of Australia Day, council staff confiscated a City of Sydney flag from Liberal Councillor Lyndon Gannon’s office, with the Lord Mayor saying the 1908-designed flag “does not represent all that we are”.

However, Cr Gannon doesn’t believe we should remove all references to our colonial past.

“That’s iconoclasm,” he told City Hub. 

“To say titles like Lord Mayor are culturally inappropriate is ridiculous,” he continued. “I mean, what if we had an Indigenous governor general? In Yvonne’s view they would be a traitor to their mob.”

Independent Councillor Adam Worling, whose amendments to the motion were carried, told City Hub, “I was surprised by Cr Weldon reference to pomp and fanfare when this is something the Lord Mayor has never insisted upon or chased.”

“Most people I meet call her Clover and occasionally Lord Mayor. I know that people find Clover to be approachable and accessible,” he continued.

“At the City, we are entirely committed and busy in progressing Reconciliation and First Nations Justice, and are doing that in a myriad of tangible ways.”

Council said changing the title of the Lord Mayor of Sydney to the Mayor of Sydney would require Parliament to amend the City of Sydney Act 1988 and that this would be of little practical benefit to the community.

Cr Weldon maintained that these titles and styles were out of place in the City of Sydney’s “progressive and diverse” community, saying “the title Lord Mayor is not just outdated and colonial, it is in fact feudal in origin and in practice.”

A spokesperson for Cr Weldon said, “We reject the assertions from the Lord Mayor that dropping the title ‘Lord’ would need to be legislated by state parliament.”

Cr Sylvie Ellsmore spoke in support of the motion, saying the title could easily be dropped.