Greens and Labor only tickets confirmed so far
Expectations surrounding the upcoming Byron Shire Council elections have been thrown in the air with the revelation that the police are seeking an Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) against Byron Shire Mayor, Michael Baden Lyon.
Two domestic violence (DV) charges have been confirmed by the court: assault and stalking/intimidation. The AVO and the two charges are set to be heard later this month.
Following the charges being made public, both Cr Mark Swivel and Dr Meredith Wray, who were running on the Byron Independents ticket with Lyon in the upcoming council elections, have pulled out of his ticket. Former councillor Jeannette Martin who was running fourth on the ticket has remained, telling The Echo that: ‘I support Michael 100 per cent and I will remain on the Byron Independents ticket’.
Cr Lyon said on social media that; ‘I have also not made any decision on whether I will run again for mayor. A final decision on this will be made before Wednesday.’
Nominations to register to run nominations for mayor or councillor close at noon on Wednesday, 14 August. As this edition went to print current Mayor Michael Lyon had not nominated to run, the only ticket that had officially nominated was The Greens ticket.
‘At the heart of this matter is a misunderstanding that I hope will be cleared up as quickly as possible so that my name can be cleared and that my family can move back out of the public eye and receive the love and attention they need,’ said Lyon.
‘I abhor violence in all its forms and respect the need for the strong processes that are in place to protect the safety of people in the home.’
Swivel goes Labor
Cr Swivel said in a statement on social media that he needed ‘a mayoral campaign like a hole in the head’ however, after deliberation he has now joined Cr Asren Pugh’s Labor ticket running for a councillor position along with Diane James, taking the Labor ticket to five candidates with Cr Asren Pugh running for mayor.
‘Diana has been a member for a number of months and Mark joined last week,’ Pugh told The Echo. ‘It doesn’t matter if you have previously been a member of another party, or an independent, if you share Labor values then we are keen to have new members join and get involved in making the world a better place.’
Ironically, while both Swivel and James were able to join the Labor ticket, neither would have been able to vote in a preselection vote if one had been held as ‘there has long been a rule in the Labor party that you have to be a member for two years to vote in a preselection vote,’ explained Pugh.
Note: the article was updated on 15 August, 2024. Janet Swain was a former Greens member not Diane James who has never been a member of a political party before.
Nine positions and ten candidates?
Currently there is only one other ticket, The Greens, that has declared they are running, and it is the only ticket that was formally registered at the time of print.
Both Cr Pugh and Cr Ndiaye have registered as mayoral candidates.
With nine positions available, one of which is the popularly-elected mayor, if no other candidates or tickets register then only one of the currently proposed ten candidates on the Labor and Green tickets will not be elected.
While there are rumours swirling that there are other candidates looking to form tickets to fill the surprise void that the collapse of the Byron Independents ticket would leave they still have until noon Wednesday to register.
Read more on The Echo online www.echo.net.au as more information becomes available.
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