Donna Davis wins support to continue Parramatta Lord Mayor

Parramatta’s newest MP will continue to helm the council after supporters leapt to her defence and slammed opponents’ plan to oust her, saying they had sour grapes and personal grievances.

Parramatta Lord Mayor Donna Davis will continue to helm the council after a motion calling for her to step down was unsuccessful following a heated debate about whether she should juggle the role with being the city’s MP.

Cr Davis, who was first elected on the council as a Epping ward representative in 2017 and as Parramatta mayor since last January, has faced growing pressure to step aside as the mayor of the booming city now she is Parramatta’s Labor MP.

Independent councillor Lorraine Wearne, who moved the motion for Cr Davis to quit being the mayor, implored Cr Davis to listen to her heart with the dual role which posed “obvious conflicts of interests’’.

“I don’t believe it’s physically possible to give 100 per cent of your attention ...,’’ she said.

If you think it’s possible, I would say you’ve either got a very inflated opinion of yourself and your abilities, or something, because I do not believe it is possible to hold down two full time jobs.’’

Not everyone is happy to see Donna Davis take on two roles in public office.

Our Local Community councillor Michelle Garrard said: “Which do you choose when you’ve got a state commitment and a local commitment on the same day?

“Over the last eight weeks you have fully lost my confidence as a Lord Mayor and you know why, and that is backed by my team.’’

Independent Georgina Valjak called on Cr Davis to step aside just as Ryde Mayor Jordan Lane, Warringah Mayor Michael Regan and Pittwater councillor Rory Amon did when they won their respective seats.

But Cr Davis’ supporters clapped back at the criticism of her double role.

“This motion is the product of personal grievance and sour grapes associated with yourself and your election to parliament,’’ Cameron Maclean told the chamber.

“The community is very familiar of Cr Donna Davis. There’s no conspiracy here – they know her as the Lord Mayor of the city and thus far 22,760 of them … voted her to be their state member, knowing she already occupied that position – and they did not do it despite of her Lord Mayor position, they did it because of what she’s achieved in that role.’’

Parramatta Labor candidate Donna Davis enters Rosehill Bowling Club after winning the election.

Greens councillor Phil Bradley said the motion was a thinly veiled act of political opportunism.

He added that former Blacktown Mayor Steven Bali and Sydney City Mayor Clover Moore could handle roles as MPs too and Cr Davis was capable of doing both for a few months more, so she could assist the transition of the council’s new chief executive Gail Connolly.

“This motion is an insult to the Lord Mayor Davis’ intelligence and ability to determine when and if she might step down before this September (mayoral election),’’ he said.

Independent Kellie Darley said the proposal was navel-gazing and a waste of time based on sour grapes by councillors unhappy with the Lord Mayor’s success.

“To win a previously strong Liberal seat and get almost one in every two votes is no easy thing to do,’’ she said.

“People went to the polls knowing that the Lord Mayor was the Lord Mayor and still voted her in as the state member.’’

Councillors who supported Wearne’s notice of motion were Donna Wang, Dan Siviero, Henry Green and Valjak.

Those who voted for Cr Davis to stay were councillors Darley, Maclean, Bradley, Patricia Prociv, Pierre Esber, Paul Noack, Ange Humphries and Sameer Pandey.

The result elicited a round of applause from members of the public gallery.

Parliament resumes in May and the next mayoral election will be in September.

This means Cr Davis could see out her mayoral duties until then but continue as a councillor until September 2024 when the local government elections are held.