City of Sydney councillor Jess Scully quits due to inadequate parental leave

The City of Sydney councillor widely tipped to succeed Lord Mayor Clover Moore is resigning from the council, citing the lack of parental leave for politicians in local government in NSW.

Jess Scully, who was first elected as a member of Moore’s team of independents in 2016, said juggling her council workload with motherhood, and her part-time job as a consultant with the World Bank, meant she was going into her second pregnancy with her “eyes wide open” to the challenges.

City of Sydney councillor Jess Scully, pictured with daughter Elinor, 3, says she’s unsure whether she will return to a council role.Credit: Steven Siewert

She gave birth to her daughter Elinor, now 3, one week after she was elected deputy mayor in 2019 and returned to a council meeting three weeks later.

“I know it would be very difficult for me to sign up to do that again, knowing there’s no leave and no leeway,” Scully said.

Scully’s exit will trigger a countback election for a new councillor and throw up questions about who will succeed Moore, who has previously vowed to serve in the role until local council polls in 2024.

Scully will seize her last council meeting on Monday to push for changes to make it easier for those with parental or caring responsibilities – particularly women, who make up 39 per cent of councillors in NSW – to serve.

“This is a personal decision that I’ve made, but it’s because of a structural issue that can be solved, and should be solved if we want to have more inclusive representation in NSW,” Scully said.

In NSW, local councillors are paid a yearly fee and are not eligible for parental leave, sick leave, compassionate leave, or carer’s leave.

Scully, who is due to give birth in October, will request the council to write to the NSW government urging them to implement 18 weeks’ paid parental leave for councillors, and to develop a discussion paper on the issue. She is also asking them to consider mechanisms such as vote pairing or proxies for councillors who are absent from council meetings due to caring responsibilities.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and deputy mayor Jess Scully campaign at Potts Point in 2021. Moore has praised Scully’s “fierce intelligence and limitless energy”. Credit: Janie Barrett

She said the typical duties of a councillor extended far beyond the role’s “part-time” description, with an average representative spending about 45 hours per week on council responsibilities.

“It is an extraordinary, extraordinary workload. I’m not complaining because I love the work.”

Scully’s exit follows former City of Sydney councillor Jess Miller’s decision to quit the deputy mayoralty after one year in 2018, citing long hours and low pay.

Labor councillor Linda Scott acknowledged Scully’s positive contribution to the council, but said the turnover on Moore’s team was “extraordinarily high”.

Moore will use a mayoral minute at Monday’s meeting to criticise the leave provisions as “appalling”.

City of Sydney councillors Sylvie Ellsmore, Linda Scott, HY William Chan, Emelda Davis, Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Jess Scully, Robert Kok, Shauna Jarrett and Yvonne Weldon in December 2021.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“If we want diverse representation in local government – to have younger people, people in caring stages of their lives, parents, people from diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities – we have to ensure that structures are in place to support people like Councillor Scully with caring responsibilities.”

Moore said the NSW Electoral Commission would conduct a countback election to determine who would replace Scully, and that candidate would be Adam Worling. He works in public relations and ran on Moore’s ticket in 2021. Moore said he would be a “great advocate for City communities”.

She would not be drawn on any succession plans on Thursday, saying her sole focus was delivering on the election commitments her team made in 2021. Moore has been lord mayor since 2004.

“I have always run with a strong ticket, with a diverse range of experience to draw on, all of whom are fine leaders,” Moore said.

Asked about a possible return to the council or politics, Scully said: “I genuinely don’t know.”

She said working alongside Moore had shown her that “careers are really long, and there’s time”.

“I don’t think I’m finished contributing to Sydney. I think one day in the future I would love to contribute in another way, and find another way to be useful, but I don’t know what that is yet.”

A NSW Office of Local Government spokesman said there was nothing preventing a council from providing a leave of absence to a councillor for caring or other purposes. He said a councillor could take a leave of absence of up to three months and still receive their fee.

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