Independent Byron Shire Councillor Mark Swivel has joined the Labor Party and is backing Cr Asren Pugh for mayor in September’s local government elections.
The move adds to a series of dramatic events last week in the lead-up to Byron’s council renewal.
Cr Swivel announced via social media his departure from the Byron Independents, the team lead by his former mayoral candidate rival, Mayor Michael Lyon.
Cr Swivel’s social media post was published the same day The Echo revealed, on the front page of its weekly print edition, an Apprehended Violence Order application filed against the mayor.
Swivel kept mayor’s AVO, criminal charges quiet
Cr Swivel later wrote that the AVO application and related criminal matters were listed as of 2 August and he didn’t know why it took so long for them to become public knowledge.
However, it was not Cr Swivel, also a working lawyer, who shared the information with The Echo.
His somewhat mysteriously worded departure post failed to explicitly mention Cr Lyon’s court matters but instead referred to a ‘right to a fair hearing’ and right for his wife, who he named, to feel safe in her home.
Readers were left to direct one another to The Echo’s front page to put the post into context.
Swivel embraces ‘hole in head’
Cr Swivel followed his departure post with another social media message saying he needed another council campaign like a ‘hole in the head’.
He wouldn’t be running again for a seat, let alone for mayor, he wrote as part of a long statement describing his already ‘full’ life and how he wished to spend more time with his ‘girlfriend’.
But before the week finished, Cr Swivel made yet another pivot in his political plans, this time to Labor.
Local lawyer’s love for Labor
‘I’ve had a long week talking with many people about what to do,’ Cr Swivel posted on Sunday morning.
‘We need a council working for our whole community and I will do my best to keep working for that,’ he wrote, ‘I’m proud to be included on the Labor ticket’.
Cr Swivel said he was committed to the local community and didn’t need to be mayor or a councillor ‘to do that’.
But referring to ‘slow’ local government bureaucracies, Cr Swivel said he wanted to help improve decision and plan-making.
He listed the Northern Rivers rail trail, housing, and the environment as key areas of concern.
‘I want us to dial down the distracting partisan conflict and pointless politics,’ Cr Swivel said.
He’d ‘long’ voted Labor, he said, disclosing his ‘political heroes’ as Gough Whitlam, Paul Keating and Nye Bevan.
‘I hope Labor and Greens can work together for this community,’ the post continued.
Justine Elliot welcomes Swivel
As of Monday morning, Labor and The Greens were the only two parties running candidates for the Byron Shire Council with no other groups or independents nominated.
Labor Cr Asren Pugh, the lead name on the Labor ticket and also running for mayor, also posted to social media over the weekend about his refreshed team.
Labor has six candidates, he said: himself; Janet Swain; Diana James; Linda Lascelles Watson; Pete Doherty; and Cr Mark Swivel.
Federal Labor Member for Richmond Justine Elliot welcomed Cr Swivel to the mainstream party via a congratulatory comment on his Facebook post.
The Greens were the only ones to have officially registered via the Australian Electoral Commission and had added a fifth name to the Byron ticket: Bay FM presenter and former actor, Nell Schofield, who regularly helps present local community events such as the Byron Writers Festival.
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