By Samantha Hutchinson and Stephen Brook
The Sydney Morning Herald
The local council of Wingecarribee Shire in NSW’s genteel Southern Highlands sure seems dysfunctional. A slew of high-profile residents and homeowners in the well-heeled enclave about an hour south of Sydney are mad as hell over infighting and inaction around the local council table – and they are now getting organised.
Society doyenne Skye Leckie. CREDIT:DOMINIC LORRIMER
Society doyenne Skye Leckie and other Highlands locals, including artist Tim Storrier and wife Janet Storrier, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie, plus hairdresser to the stars Joh Bailey, are lending their support to a campaign backing a new ticket seeking election to the embattled Wingecarribee Shire Council.
The community effort comes after NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock was forced to intervene in March after a cold war – and then a deadlock – erupted around the council. Hancock suspended councillors for three months and appointed an independent administrator citing “serious concerns about the council’s ability to function properly” and a “worsening and ongoing breakdown of relationships between councillors and senior staff.” The suspension has since been extended until the local government elections, which are scheduled for September 4.
The heavyweight local campaign – called Lets Get It Right 2021 – kicked off earlier this month with a bash at the Centennial Vineyards, where Leckie, Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes and more than 300 others including former federal National MP John Sharp got behind the ticket backing local business owner Jane Crowley as a candidate for mayor and Tin Shed marketing agency boss Nicole Smith as deputy. And there’s plenty more action in store before polling day in September.