Darcy Byrne elected as Mayor

At just 31-years-old, Labor’s Darcy Byrne is among the youngest Mayor Leichhardt Council has ever had.

The Leichhardt resident attended Balmain Primary School and later Balmain High School, and said it was his own difficult childhood that motivated him to work in youth services and eventually inspired him to become Mayor for his people.

“I didn’t have the easiest childhood,” Mr Byrne said. “I found it pretty tough at times but we were really lucky that we lived in a genuine community where friends and neighbours would offer a helping hand and that’s what led me to work in and manage youth centres.

“It’s the reason that I stood for public office; it has to be the role of government to provide the services that can make a difference in people’s lives.”

Up until recently, Mr Byrne managed Glebe Youth Services and has previously managed Youth Services for the City of Sydney under Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s leadership.

“I’ve seen firsthand that local government can make a difference to people’s lives, that services do matter,” Mr Byrne said. “I hope that we can start to lift the standard of services at Leichhardt Council further towards what is being provided by the City of Sydney.”

With a background as a youth worker and as a new father himself, Mr Byrne said his primary focus will be improving the availability of childcare places in the municipality, increasing the number of sporting fields, and fixing Leichhardt’s parking system.

“I really want to focus on the needs of children,” he said. “We’ve got the biggest baby boom in Australia occurring right here in Sydney’s inner west but only 1 in 3 local families are able to find childcare locally.

“Thousands of kids have been turned away from participating in junior sport because of the shortage of playing fields. Something has to be done, its time the council stepped up and took some responsibility for delivering some of those services.”

When asked if he plans to fight the Green Paper planning proposals and the O’Farrell Government’s soon-to-be implemented compulsory acquisition laws on behalf of residents  in an increasingly industrialised municipality, Mr Byrne said:

“I make absolutely no apologies for the fact that my primary focus and commitment will be to improving the quality of services that Leichardt Council delivers. I think an approach to governing that says  ‘our main focus is on lobbying on State or Federal issues rather than looking in our own backyard and making sure we are getting things right ourselves’ is pretty cynical and unhelpful.”

Mr Byrne promises to continue to fight the Rozelle Village Development.