Marrickville Mayoral election sparks council controversy

By Jessica Yun

Marrickville Council has elected Independent councillor Mark Gardiner to be their new mayor for 2015.

Independents Mark Gardiner and Morris Hanna were elected mayor and deputy mayor respectively.

Competing with Greens councillor Sylvie Ellsmore for the top job, Cr Gardiner won the votes of all councillors except the 4 Greens councillors.

A number of Marrickville Greens councillors expressed their concern that the “conservative Independent” council leaders would not reflect the demographic of Marrickville.

“We have one of the most progressive areas in Australia in terms of the residents,” she said.

Greens councillor Max Philips said: “Something like 70 percent of voters actually vote for Labor or the Greens.”

“That is reflected in the fact that we have 4 Green and 4* Labor councillors at the moment, but also what we know about people’s attitudes to general issues,” said Cr Ellsmore.

However, Mayor Gardiner has denied allegations of a “conservative takeover” of Marrickville Council.

“Despite what the Greens are saying, I am not a nasty conservative who doesn’t represent the area,” said Mayor Gardiner.

“I think I’ve always regarded myself as a conservative economically but quite progressive on social issues.”

It was only on the previous Friday, four days before the mayoral election, that Mayor Gardiner announced he was becoming an independent local politician.

Prior to his announcement, he had been a Liberal councillor for two years. Mayor Gardiner’s decision to dissociate himself from the party was made after he grew uncomfortable with the idea that the public saw the Liberal Party’s actions as synonymous with his own.

“There was a perception that because I was a member of the Liberal Party, I agreed with all the things that the party was doing, both at a State Government and Federal Government level, and I do not,” he said.

While Mayor Gardiner says it was remiss of him not to have announced it earlier, he says his position was quite well known.

“I announced it last Friday but it actually happened much earlier. My council colleagues were aware of it.”

“I resigned from the local branch in about April this year and my membership with the party actually expired on June 30. I did not renew it.”

Cr Ellsmore says his new status as Independent is somewhat ambiguous, and is unsure of whether this means he will be voting any differently on council matters.

A major area of focus of Mayor Gardiner’s vision for his term in council is the prompt construction of the new Marrickville library to be developed on Marrickville’s old hospital site.

“That land has been owned by council for twenty years and it needs to be built. The [current] Marrickville library is deplorable in its conditions.”

“It’s a woefully inadequate community resource and it needs to be replaced. That’s a very firm goal of mine,” said Mayor Gardiner.

While all Marrickville councillors agree that the new library must be built, decisions regarding its development are a topic of contention within council.

“We think development should be sustainable. It needs to be done in the right way,” said Cr Ellsmore.

“We think we should use public money for it. I don’t think you should privatise things. The conservatives, on the other hand, are pro-development.”

*There are now only three Labor councillors. Sadly, Cr Emanuel Tsardoulias passed away earlier this year.