In the early stages, Greens Councilor Chris Harris
worked closely with the Lord Mayor’s team and that allowed the Lord Mayor to
get her choice of Deputy – John
McInerney.
That was for a year, then things changed and the position of Deputy was
drawn out of a hat. This allowed Labor’s Verity Firth
to become the Lord Mayor’s Deputy. Twelve months later in 2006 it was the turn
of the Greens Councilor, Chris Harris.
Then, out of the blue, the Lord Mayor’s team decided that the City was not
going to have one position of Deputy Lord Mayor – the argument was that other
large international cities have numerous deputies. After a fairly lively
Council meeting, Chris Harris became
Deputy Lord Mayor. This year there was no argument and no walkout and, as a
result, Tony Pooley became Deputy.
Should be an interesting 12 months. The next Council elections are September
2008.
Source: South Sydney Herald October 2007