This is a strange election.
Michael Lyon, Jeanette Martin (and retired Simon Richardson) all rode the Greens ticket to get elected to the last Council and they have all deserted The Greens and have now mounted a campaign to end all the environmental protections The Greens have historically achieved for the Shire.
The Lyon team has joined three completely inexperienced candidates to band together to get enough preferences to beat Greens mayoral candidate Duncan Dey. Lyon’s team now broadcast their new agenda, which will right all the wrongs of previous Councils which, incredibly, they in fact led! The Lyon group are preferencing Labor’s Asren Pugh who will have the most votes for mayor owing to significant rusted-on Labor support.
So in summary, these one time fake Greens are ganging up to dump the beautiful Shire into Labor’s hands.
The Greens ticket is now led by the highly respected, honest and experienced Duncan Dey, who, unlike Lyon’s three mates, has been a Byron Councillor and has ‘dark green’ support with the likes of Ian Cohen. The true Greens party thankfully saw through Lyon and dumped him from pre-selection in favour of the true green – Dey. Lyon now wants his revenge.
The Lyon team will take Centre ground under Labor’s leadership, which will report to Sydney’s Labor headquarters. Labor and the so-called ‘Independents’ will be what they themselves call ‘pragmatic’. This is code for caving in to developers by allowing unsustainable development and, worse, delegating their elected roles to the notoriously right-wing, pro-development anti-environment staff. Lyon has already voted to break rules and grant a building height increase 38 per cent higher than allowed by true green Council policy.
Lyon’s gang have an obviously well-funded campaign complemented, arguably, by Swivel’s solicitor fees. They could easily succeed in their aims.
The true Greens record is the beautiful Byron Shire. All the Lyon’s gang have are long-winded promises that the wise will see as ‘just candidates saying anything to get elected’.
Please vote wisely.
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