Kerryn Phelps to run against Clover Moore for Lord Mayor of Sydney
Long-time political rival Kerryn Phelps has sensationally announced her bid to dethrone Clover Moore as Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Wentworth Courier
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Potts Point resident, Double Bay doctor, former AMA President and former Federal member for Wentworth, Dr Kerryn Phelps, is throwing her hat into the ring for the position of Lord Mayor of Sydney.
Phelps’ timing is good. She has an impressive and growing public profile, is a trusted voice on health issues, and has served on Sydney City Council for five years – a strong apprenticeship – although not of course, as long a time as the incumbent, Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who Phelps argues should well and truly move on.
Moore, Lord Mayor for close to 17 years, is pitching for a fifth term in elections slated for September, after postponement from 2020 due to COVID-19.
“Anybody who understands good governance knows you need a change in leadership from time to time,” says Phelps. “There’s an advantage in hitting the refresh button - the reason why companies have leaders in the role for only about 8 to 10 years.”
Sydney Lord Mayor is one of the country’s most important positions. The city is an international one, ‘classified as an Alpha Global City’ says Wikipedia. And as the city points out, it “generates over $110 billion in economic activity and drives nearly a quarter of the powerhouse NSW state economy.”
FROM POWER COUPLE TO LOVE RIVALS
Moore and Phelps fell out dramatically. In September 2016, after campaigning together on the independent Moore ticket, Moore installed Phelps as her Deputy Lord Mayor. It looked for a minute as though the two were going to be the true power duo – a leadership capturing the full rainbow of the city. But then it fell apart spectacularly when in June 2017 Phelps quit Moore’s team. Phelps describes it as “the most hostile working environment I have ever experienced”.
After the split she continued on Council as a ‘true independent’ as she describes it.
Stepping away would be hard but a remarkable opportunity soon presented itself. While still on Council, in October 2018, Phelps was elected the Federal Member for Wentworth, after Prime Minister and local member, Malcolm Turnbull refused to contest a second leadership spill and turned his back on politics. Phelps was the first independent to topple a conservative in the seat ever. Unusually, enormous power was also held by the Federal crossbench, including the independents at the time. And she was one of them. Phelps made national headlines forcing radical change in the nation’s approach to refugees.
“The ‘Kids off Nauru’ campaign coincided with the Wentworth by-election campaign and the Medevac legislation was a major achievement,” she says. “When we introduced the Medevac legislation there were still hundreds of children on Nauru. It was horrendous. But by the end of the following February we managed to get all the children off Nauru, and into Australia, along with their families. I’m extremely proud of that achievement - a real team effort involving so many committed people.”
In that brief shining moment, Phelps also chaired forums on climate change, women’s issues, the ABC and the Arts. But as magically as Phelps arrived, she disappeared again – narrowly losing back to the Liberals in the May 2019 federal election.
PHELPS LOSES WENTWORTH, FOCUSES ON SYDNEY
Was she disappointed not to be re-elected? She gives a gracious answer: “Of course. But we live in a democracy, so I’m grateful to have had that opportunity.”
But as she points out, while serving on the national stage, she continued with Council: “I never missed a meeting.”
Phelps says she wants to make a further contribution to public life. And the trigger issues for her tumultuous resignation from Council are just as relevant today: governance and transparency - specifically, what she claims is the lack of transparency about expenses on the budget line ‘Office of Lord Mayor.’
“Back in 2016 I was on the Council’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and asked for a breakdown on that expenditure line. Clover’s staff’s initial response to me, an elected councillor on her own team, was ‘why are you asking those questions?’, not ‘let me facilitate getting that information for you’.
“I started getting cancellations in my calendar for those Audit Committee meetings. At first it was explained as “an administrative error” and then that I was Clover’s alternate, so she’d be attending meetings instead of me in the future.”
In response to this comment, Moore says: “Five years ago, Councillor Phelps was the Lord Mayor’s nominated alternate on the Council’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, to take the Lord Mayor’s place when she was unable to attend. When the Lord Mayor attended these meetings, Councillor Phelps was not required.”
QUESTIONS OVER EXPENDITURE
Phelps presents the draft operational plan for 2020-21 and the operational budgets from 2011 until now. They show expenditure for Moore’s ‘Office of the Lord Mayor’ that is large, but which Phelps says is not open to scrutiny.
“That figure has increased from $3.0 million to $3.9 million per year over the decade, and I think we can reasonably deduce that Cr Moore has had $34.8 million at her disposal in the last 10 years alone. From 2004/2005 to the present, according to information provided by the CEO, it’s a whopping $50.77m.”
A spokesperson for Moore defends this: “The approval processes for expenditure in the Office of the Lord Mayor are the same as the processes used across the City organisation. The OLM budget is subject to independent external auditing, the same as all other budgets in the City. Once again this year the City received an unqualified audit. We remain debt-free, have met the
benchmark for all key performance ratios and are well placed to fund our ongoing operations and extensive capital works program.”
She explained that it is spent on office equipment, staff, civic and ceremonial events such as citizenship ceremonies and international visiting delegations.
There are 16 full time staff and three part time staff, with administrative, policy, communication and official event related roles.
City Council splits almost neatly in two: those now a tight part of Moore’s coalition, and those outside it. Such divides lead to protracted and noisy fights on councils everywhere. But councillors unaligned to Moore told The Wentworth Courier, their concerns about the lack of transparency around the expenses policy - and other governance issues, continue.
As ratepayers that’s our money but no-one knows what it’s spent on, they say.
PHELPS CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY
“The community deserves to know the details of exactly how this is spent,” Phelps says.
We agree, but a request by the Wentworth Courier for a detailed financial breakdown of the budget line was rejected.
Last year, Phelps put forward motions requesting the CEO appoint an independent external assessment panel so the next Audit Committee appointee goes through an external process instead of being appointed by the Lord Mayor. But this was rejected.
“My concerns with this are about authentic community consultation and good governance – including the budget Cr Moore receives for her Mayoral duties, where the details are still not made transparent,” says Phelps.
She gives examples of other frustrations.
“When I asked about funding for a feasibility study into restoring the Metro Theatre Kings Cross back in November, Cr Moore said: “You’ll get an answer if I choose to give you an answer and I’ll choose to give you an answer when I’ve heard from everyone else, if I chose to give the answer at all.’
Moore’s response to this: “The Lord Mayor chairs Council meetings in accordance with the City’s Code of Meeting Practice. Councillors are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the Code of Media Practice at all times. When Councillors speak out of turn or breech the Code of Meeting Practice, they can be directed to ask questions in the appropriate forum or time. There is no requirement for the Lord Mayor to answer questions without notice.
There is an established process for Councillors to request information, including through Questions on Notice. Councillors’ questions are then answered in due course.”
Last year’s news reports support Phelps’ argument of a disconnect between City Council’s financial management and community expectations.
SPLASHING OUT?
They include an allegation that Council spent $1 million to run Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre while it was not yet opened and the claim the budget for this has blown out from $50m to $100m.
Moore insists attacks on the management and expenditure of the pool are “cheap pot-shots”.
“It’s a worthy investment for our community. In terms of budget, our team managed to open this facility with minimal delay and a less than three per cent cost increase in the middle of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.”
And Moore says a revised budget of $103 million for the pool was endorsed by council in 2017.
Then there’s Moore’s campaign to convert half of Moore Park Golf Course to parkland, which Phelps says would take an important public sporting facility away from citizens, not increase green space.
“It’s a smokescreen for overdevelopment without planning for open space in the adjacent precincts.”
Again in response, Moore argues “This is a question of equity – or putting our public land to its best use. Moore Park Golf Course should not be fenced off for the benefit of just one group.”
Then there was the debacle over pop-up cycleways, both in Glebe and on Moore Park Road, Paddington. Phelps says she is pro-cycling and cycles herself: “But disability parking was eliminated, children couldn’t be dropped off at childcare centres, elderly people had difficulty leaving their homes. Yes, we need cycling infrastructure. But it needs to be safe, separated from traffic and preserve local residents’ amenity.”
Phelps shows photos, taken only recently, but going back to concerns she raised in 2018 that prime Council owned real estate on Oxford Street has been left neglected and unliveable when it should have been earning a commercial income or at least used for emergency housing.
Since Phelps first drew attention to that, the properties have been leased to a property investment group for 99 years: “But most of those properties won’t be occupiable for several years.”
PHELPS CALLS FOR CHANGE
“People are telling me they feel Moore has lost touch with community sentiment. ‘It’s time for change’ is now a very common conversation.”
Phelps argues the city needs a Lord Mayor with a willingness to respond to community concerns and with a more open approach to reporting on expenditure, something she is deeply committed to.
“I have run medical practices for over thirty years and led a national medical organisation. I have a deep understanding of the needs of business and the community. General practice also prepares you for a role like this.”
“So I would be the obvious candidate.”
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