Tuesday, 20 September 2005

Tuesday, 20 September 2005

Media Release

Sydney’s First Green Mayor Steps Down

Tonight Randwick City Greens Mayor Murray Matson will vote for Liberal Councillor Ted Seng to replace him after accusing Labor Councillors of being complicit in new state government financial charges on the Council.

In April 2004, the local Greens put forward an "inclusive" sharing arrangement to allocate the four and half years of mayorship amongst all three represented parties - Greens, Labor and Liberal.

This commitment is now under threat because the State Government is allowing Energy Australia to hit the Council with an extra million dollars per year in public lighting charges.

Cr Matson states that the new charges will undermine his attempts to introduce the Council’s first long-term financial plane. He elaborated,

"I learnt that the State Labor Government was happily planning to cost shift $1million worth of public lighting infrastructure charges on to the Council each year. Our new Labor MP for Maroubra and fellow Councillor is refusing to say boo to the Government about it."

Cr Matson further fears that Labor will attempt to drop the special Environment Levy he introduced to fund many of the environmental initiatives that the Greens have implemented during his mayoral term. He elaborated,

"I have used that levy to plant huge numbers of new street trees, put in gross pollutant traps to clean up our beaches and extend the coastal walk way amongst other things."

Another deep division between Labor and the Greens is local Labor MP Kristina Keneally’s support for the RTA’s proposed access ramps off Southern Cross Drive onto Gardeners Road.

Local residents, who fear induced traffic rat running through their streets, are up in arms against Labor but supportive of the Greens for standing up to Keneally. Cr Matson said,

"I won’t now be a hypocrite and vote for a Labor Mayor after fighting Labor over the Access Ramps during last week’s Maroubra By election. It would destroy the community’s faith in the Greens."

Councillor Matson outlined further acrimonious battles between Labor and the Greens over the last 18 months which have strained relations between the two parties.

"There was constant fighting over tree and urban forest related issues in which the ALP attempted to force the Greens into an adversarial position against the community. At one point ALP Councillors petitioned the Minister for Local Government to sack me from the Council.

The really deep resentment arose when I presided over extensive structural and financial reforms. Every initiative in this area by the Greens was automatically a criticism of the capability of the previous Labor Mayor I replaced."

Cr Matson was Sydney’s first Green Mayor but is expected to be followed by Green Mayors in Marrickville and Waverley.