Independent lord mayoral candidate Sam Danieli wants to be Sydney’s Pied Piper in a bid to rid city of rats

Independent Sam Danieli has a novel plan to end the city’s ‘rat plague’ and rid the vermin from our streets. Find out what it is.

A City of Sydney mayoral candidate has declared he will be the Pied Piper of the Harbour City, running on a “getting rid of the rats” platform.

As the legend goes, the Pied Piper of Hamelin in Germany used a magic pipe to lure the rats out of the town, and now lord mayoral candidate Sam Danieli wants to do the same for Sydney, saying enough is enough when it comes to the city’s rodents.

He wants to remove ivy which provides shelter for the rats in the city’s parks, introduce stringent health checks in restaurants and keep a weekly red bin collection, but, experts have warned it won’t be an easy job to do.

“We have a rat plague and the council’s just buried their head in the sand,” Mr Danieli said.

“If we’re trying to make Sydney the safest, cleanest (city) … well you have to get rid of the rats, and I’m saying I’ll be the Pied Piper of Sydney.”

If elected as lord mayor, Mr Danieli said he would “force council to allocate funds to clean up the parks”.

Mayoral candidate Sam Danieli with the ivy at Lang Park on Lang Street in Sydney CBD. Picture Rohan Kelly

Mayoral candidate Sam Danieli is proposing to remove ivy plants in Lang Park on Lang Street in Sydney CBD to help reduce the rat population. Picture Rohan Kelly

It includes transforming and revitalising the parks by removing the ivy and replacing it with mulch while adding children’s playgrounds into the mix.

Mr Danieli has also warned against a move to fortnightly red bin collection which neighbouring Inner West Council has adopted.

The chartered accountant said he encountered a similar issue during his time as Warringah mayor, although with wild rabbits at Long Reef Headland.

“Council had to have regular baiting sessions to kill off the rabbits … otherwise they would go wild,” he said.

Dead rat on the streets of Surry Hills. Kippax St.

A rat roams a laneway in Surry Hills. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“(We) have to acknowledge there is a problem.”

When asked about the issue, a City of Sydney spokeswoman said the council hadn’t identified a “significant change” in rat activity over the past six months.

She said council had a “rat control program” which included traps and targeted burrow baiting while also working alongside “licensed pest control contractors”.

Sydney's Best Pest Control owner Sam Yehia.

But, Mr Danieli said the current plan wasn’t enough.

He plans to “engage the experts” as much as possible and hire a “rat tsar”.

Sydney’s Best Pest Control owner Sam Yehia said while it wasn’t possible to get rid all the rats, it ultimately “comes down to food sources” which help rodents quickly multiply.

“You (absolutely) can put things in place to mitigate or manage the situation,” he said.

Mr Danieli supported Mr Yehia’s reference to native rats being introduced like at North Head Sanctuary as a way of reducing the invasive black rat population.

Originally published as Independent lord mayoral candidate Sam Danieli wants to be Sydney’s Pied Piper in a bid to rid city of rats