Feather in her Capp: Sally Capp’s tumultuous first year as Lord Mayor
While a week can be a long time in politics, Sally Capp is about to notch up a year as Melbourne’s first directly elected female Lord Mayor. She talks about the fans, frustrations and that sex scandal.
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Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp is never short of advisers. Even family members
like to chip in with suggestions to make the city better.
“My dad’s No. 1 priority is if there’s one thing that I achieve in my time as Lord Mayor, it would be for me to organise for the city to paint a line down the middle of our pavements and ask people to keep left,” she says. “He gets so frustrated on our pavements.
Part of that goes to etiquette and to generational change as well, part of it goes to congestion on our pavements, and the other part goes to our obsession with phones and
the fact that we’re not even looking.”
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After a hectic first year in office, Capp could be forgiven for hoping that solving the city’s problems might be as easy as painting a white line down CBD footpaths.
Elected amid the turmoil of a sexual harassment scandal that engulfed her predecessor Robert Doyle, Capp had campaigned on a positive agenda that included a rejig of the $285 million Queen Victoria Market redevelopment, a concept plan for a New York-style High Line linear
park for the CBD and extending the free tram zone.
Capp, a confessed political novice, has had to accept the reality that trying to implement policies can be very frustrating.
The market redevelopment seems to be back on track after a shock Heritage Victoria decision rejecting works a year ago. But some observers, including a handful of councillors, have criticised a long consultation process backed by Capp, which included sifting through ideas from a 40-member “people’s panel”.
The ambitious High Line park idea, which was to soar over CBD rail lines, has been cut down to size due to logistical realities, and has morphed into a “Greenline” concept to link green spaces along the Yarra River.
And the pledge to extend the free tram zone, which would need the agreement of the State government, has been quietly put on the backburner amid cost and capacity issues.
Add continuing fallout from the harassment scandal and you have a civic leader under pressure on several fronts. But you wouldn’t necessarily know it speaking to Capp in her expansive Town Hall office.
She is upbeat about her first year in power, and optimistic about the future, with big
plans to tackle the homelessness scourge, continue the market refurbishment and better deal with rubbish collection and recycling issues.
“I’m absolutely delighted with what I’ve found,” she says. “It’s been a big year, the first part really of learning what local government does.
“There was a huge amount of newness to both the organisation and what it does,
as well as the role (of Lord Mayor) and all that it entails.”
Capp takes inspiration from the City of Melbourne’s Latin motto, vires acquirit eundo, meaning, “We gather strength as we go.’
“Local government is relentless,” she says. “(But) there’s a sense that we’re connected in
a together way probably more than any other level of government, which I think is completely satisfying in so many ways and rewarding.”
Capp says it’s been a steep learning curve in terms of what can be achieved as an elected official who needs to work with other elected people and a substantial bureaucracy.
“It’s set up supposedly as a healthy tension, and I think if it’s used as a healthy tension, then that’s a good thing in terms of challenging each other in constructive ways,” she says. “There are 11 councillors that feel passionate about delivering things for Melbourne and its citizens, and they have their own avenues for speaking with the community and identifying issues.
“And you’ve got a big executive administration bureaucracy here, who have talent and expertise and experience in all these things … and how do we get the best out of both of those worlds? I genuinely believe we’re only going to be successful if we do it together.”
Capp is thankful a new councillor code of conduct — created in the wake of the harassment scandal — was ready for signing on her first day in the job.
“That work was done by people already here, that had already been through the events of what happened, and had responded by taking leadership themselves, whether it was the Deputy Lord Mayor (Arron Wood) acting as Lord Mayor, and the other councillors, whether it was the (former CEO Ben Rimmer),” she says.
Capp admits ongoing scrutiny of how the council has handled the investigation into the Doyle claims has tested the organisation’s resolve.
“We are dealing with issues that aren’t well regulated, that are new and challenging in workplaces around Australia, where there’s no clear guidance on how to go forward,” she says. “The City of Melbourne … has really tried its best in what has been a quagmire of both issues, and sometimes an absence of a clear way forward.”
It is fair to say the controversies Capp has faced are on a different scale to anything she encountered in her previous varied career.
Capp has enjoyed a seemingly smooth ride through business, government and advocacy roles over the decades.
A Melbourne University economics and law graduate, she started working life as a solicitor, and has held senior positions with KPMG and ANZ. She was chief of operations for the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and CEO of city lobby group the Committee for Melbourne.
In 2009, Capp was appointed the first female Victorian agent-general, based in London, a position she held for three years.
Before the mayoral race, she headed the Victorian division of the Property Council of Australia, an advocacy group for developers and other industry players.
And along the way, she became the first woman appointed to the Collingwood Football Club board in 2004.
Capp, the city’s first directly elected female Lord Mayor, says, “It’s like I’ve been in practice for this”.
“Every day I find that I’m drawing on lots of those different skill sets. I started as a lawyer and there’s no doubt that feeling comfortable in the world of regulation and legislation is handy, and understanding about policy,” she says.
“This is a $95 billion city economy, but the City of Melbourne itself has about a $1 billion turnover every year, so being able to understand the financials I’ve found very handy.”
Capp says her stint at the Committee for Melbourne opened her eyes to government
as a facilitator, rather than regulator, and showed what it takes to create vibrant and resilient cities. She says the experience gained from her various advocacy roles has been crucially important for her job at Town Hall.
“The main role of the Lord Mayor is as No. 1 champion to advocate the issues that
are important to our citizens and our businesses,” she says.
If Capp is to be judged on the enthusiasm and vigour she has for the job, few could
doubt her credentials. Her diary is chock-full of events and meetings, and she clearly loves
to speak in public, revealing a confident and upbeat demeanour.
As a strong female role model, she is an in-demand speaker at girls’ schools, and it’s not uncommon for council staff to bring in their daughters to meet their “hero”.
Part of her strong work ethic she attributes to sons Nic, 21, and Will, 19, no longer living
at the Hawthorn home she shares with husband Andrew Sutherland, a property advocate.
“I’ve got empty-nester syndrome,” she says.
“I’m filling every single part of my day being the Lord Mayor and doing things with the community and working here, which distracts me completely from the fact that I no longer have two beautiful boys living at home with us.”
The couple are looking to downsize, with a move to a City of Melbourne locality.
Capp is very protective of her family, particularly of her husband, who accompanies her to many functions.
Interviewed by a community radio station earlier this year, she vented about people who insult Sutherland by calling him her “handbag”.
“People are very hurtful to him … those little things can really demean people, and it’s so frustrating when you’re genuinely trying to make a difference and you’re working hard,” she said at the time.
Now Capp says those comments “set the cat among the pigeons”.
“Boy, did he get a lot of feedback,” she says, smiling. “I’ve been treated as a handbag many times when I escorted him to functions, so I knew exactly what it felt like and I think it’s unfair.
“But he copes very well with all that, don’t worry. It’s probably me being more protective of him.”
If Capp has a vulnerable side herself, it’s to do with dealing with attacks in the cut and thrust of politics.
While she may seem like a natural campaigner, she reveals that last year’s lord mayoral by-election run “was the most traumatic experience I’ve ever been through in my life”.
“People had the assumption that I was just going to come in and represent what they perceived to be greedy developers,” she says. “But if I hadn’t had that Property Council experience, I wouldn’t have understood our planning system in the way I do.”
With horror, Capp recalls attending some meet-the-candidates events.
“Often I walked into these nights, and it would almost hit me physically, the negativity and aggression towards me,” she says.
“At the first one, someone videotaped me. I just got slapped down so badly but had really good lessons.
“I was so confronted with aggression, and people had made assumptions about me, and
I responded emotionally and defensively. And that was never going to be the best way to do it.”
Capp, who grew up in the eastern suburbs and went to Presbyterian Ladies’ College, says she was brought up not to make assumptions about people.
“I’m a very trusting person, which is probably why I walked into that (campaign) environment in the first place thinking everybody would be fair,” she says. “But I am resilient, but I’m mostly resilient because I’ve been through so many experiences in my life that have been truly traumatic, and it has been difficult.”
Probably the most confronting was a brush with cancer in 2006, when she had a malignant tumour removed, and had radiation treatment.
Despite last year’s bruising election campaign, Capp has already committed to stand for re-election in 2020.
Former premier Jeff Kennett, who backed her last time, said it was too early to judge Capp’s performance as Lord Mayor after only 12 months in the job.
“The reality is it’s something she’s never done before, she’s got to learn the bureaucracy, she’s got to work with councillors and balance their interests,” Kennett says. “As far as
I’m concerned, and I’m just observing, I think she’s doing a very workmanlike job, but
she’s only just started.”
Queen Victoria Market chief executive Stan Liacos, who knew Capp from their previous jobs, says she is an ideal political master.
“She’s reasonable, she cares, she’s approachable, and she’s energetic,” Liacos says. “In my case, she’s been highly supportive in transforming the market to make it relevant for the next 100 years.”
Not all would be so generous in their assessment, and Capp may face a challenge from within the council at next year’s poll.
But she is philosophical about her chances.
“Whatever happens, I want to be able to look back on this 2½ years and feel really confident and positive that I did everything I could to make a positive difference in the city,” Capp says.
It will be up to City of Melbourne voters to judge her record over the next 18 months and decide if this empty-nester gets another stint at Town Hall.
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