Victorian state election 2018: I’m still bitter, but I’ll play nice

FORMER celebrity mayor Darryn Lyons has warned he is still bitter about being sacked by the Andrews Government but says he will work with either major party if his tilt at state Parliament succeeds.

FORMER celebrity mayor Darryn Lyons has warned he is still bitter about being sacked by the Andrews Government but says he will work with either major party if his tilt at state Parliament succeeds.

The paparazzi king, dumped as Geelong mayor over bullying allegations, is channelling his anger at Labor into his campaign to win the seat of Geelong as an independent at next month’s election.

Mr Lyons, who is trying to defeat Labor’s Christine Couzens, declared he was “the Trump before Trump” and would not hold back in his bid to “champion the needs” of the city where he grew up.

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Former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons is running as an independent in next month's state election. Picture: Tim Carrafa

In a sign of the brutal electoral fight unfolding in Geelong, police launched an investigation this week into a man caught taking down Mr Lyons’s campaign signs, while screws were nailed into the tyres of his campaign bus.

Mr Lyons told the Herald Sun that Geelong was “not getting anything” after two decades as a Labor seat, now held by Ms Couzens with a six per cent margin.

“Darryn Lyons is not going to change just because I’m in state Parliament,” he said.

“People are looking for someone different in politics … I like to make it exciting.”

The 53-year-old said the end of his controversial three-year reign as Geelong mayor “destroyed me”.

“It’s pretty hard to destroy a bloke who’s been in three wars,” Mr Lyons said.

“Am I bitter about what they did? Of course … I’ll hold it for the rest of my life.”

But while the one-time Celebrity Big Brother contestant refuses to be called a politician, he said Geelong residents were “desperate” for him to make a comeback

Mr Lyons, who used to be a Liberal member, attacked both sides of politics as “hopeless” and “lazy” in an interview with the Herald Sun at his Elephant & Castle Hotel in Geelong this week.

Former Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons in his election bus. Picture: Tim Carrafa

If he can win the seat, the renegade promised to work with Daniel Andrews or Matthew Guy to deliver for Geelong and curb the “Melbourne-centric governing” he said frustrated voters.

Mr Lyons, who was once a heavy drug and alcohol user, said he had not had a drink in six weeks as he detailed his policy platform over a lemon, lime and bitters and a salmon salad.

Pointing to his business experience, he honed in on the rising cost of living for households and businesses.

Mr Lyons said he wanted to scrap payroll taxes, improve train services to and from Geelong, set up a specialist mental health centre, slash red tape on planning permits, build a cruise ship pier on the waterfront and run trams from Kardinia Park to the bay.

“You need to be a visionary and we have very few visionaries in politics today,” Mr Lyons said.

For her part, Ms Couzens said Mr Lyons was “irrelevant” as a “failed mayor” who “delivered nothing for Geelong”.

He didn’t hold back either, saying she was a “very poor communicator” who voters did not recognise, while suggesting her frontbench colleagues “seem to share a brain”.

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