Former Greens Alderman Anna Reynolds will run for the Hobart Lord Mayor position as an independent

ALDERMAN Anna Reynolds says her decision to run as an independent candidate for the position of Hobart Lord Mayor is because party politics doesn’t work at the local government level.

Hobart alderman Anna Reynolds in the Hobart City council chambers. Anna will run for Lord Mayor as an independent candidate. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

ALDERMAN Anna Reynolds will cut her almost decade-long ties with the Greens as she embarks on a mission to become lord mayor of Hobart as an independent candidate.

Ald Reynolds joined the Greens in 2009 when she moved to Tasmania to work with former senator Bob Brown.

But Ald Reynolds said when she was elected as a Greens alderman in 2014 she assumed there would be “strength in working with a like-minded team”.

“However I found the established practice was that Greens representatives worked as a loosely aligned group of individuals,” she said.

“I have decided to run as an independent lord mayoral candidate at the October local government elections, because I am keen to work with the broadest cross-section of the community to address the challenges that Hobart faces.

“Hobart is at an important time in its history, and I have come to the view that I can better represent a broader range of Hobartians as an independent.”

Ald Reynolds said she would prefer to not cut off all links with the Greens, and the party’s poor performance at the last state election had no effect on her decision.

“I feel like I’m really making a decision to reflect what is the reality, which is the Greens don’t operate as a party, in the formal sense, at the local government level,” she said.

Ald Reynolds, who announced her intention to run for the top job in February, said she could lead a new team to take Hobart forward for its next chapter.

“It really is time for us to think strategically about how we can have better public transport, encourage more affordable housing, work more effectively with surrounding councils and retain young people and migrants in Hobart,” she said.

“I did walk into a very incumbent council where nine out of 11 aldermen I sit with have been there for 10 or more years and five of that 11 have been there for about 20 years or more.

“I think any institution needs to be refreshed after a while.”

Ald Reynolds hoped Greens voters would not turn their back on her at the October election.

“I hope that voters judge me on my record and what I have achieved as an alderman,” she said.

Ald Reynolds also weighed into the nipaluna/Hobart dual-name debate saying she liked the sound of the name but more consultation needed to be held before any formal adoption.