By Andrew Taylor
The Sydney Morning Herald
Joh Bailey’s salon in the genteel Southern Highlands town of Bowral is an unlikely place to foment a political revolution.
But the celebrity hair stylist hopes to play his part in sweeping away the vestiges of the “inept” regime that ruled Wingecarribee Shire Council until it was suspended earlier this year.
A blow dry and a brief chat about politics: Joh Bailey’s Bowral salon is ground zero for the campaign. CREDIT: SAM MOOY
There are no secrets between Mr Bailey and his socialite clientele, and that includes politics. “As a hairdresser working in the Southern Highlands I have a fairly big voice and a captive audience,” he says. “They all come through my salon. I’ll be chatting about it.”
Mr Bailey is one of the high-profile backers of the Let’s Get It Right team, led by antique shop owner Jane Crowley, who are seeking office at the council election in September.
Actor John Waters, billionaire couple Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes and former Nationals MP John Sharp also backed the campaign at its launch in May at Centennial Vineyard, as The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Janet Storrier and Skye Leckie are among the high-profile supporters of the Let’s Get It Right campaign led by Jane Crowley (right), which is seeking election to Wingecarribee Shire Council. CREDIT:RHETT WYMAN
They might be revolutionaries in Armani and Burberry, more often seen in the social pages, but Mr Bailey says they are “deadly serious” about replacing the discredited council.
“We’re approaching it with a sense of humour,” he says. “But no one’s laughing about it.”
Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock suspended the council in March due to a breakdown of relationships between councillors and senior staff. She declared herself “appalled” by ongoing infighting in the council and said it was incapable of addressing its dysfunction.
The Southern Highlands council has long been dogged by controversy. It lost millions of dollars on investments made with the Australian arm of Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed during the global financial crisis. Of the $11 million lost, the council recovered more than $9 million following successful court action.
The council handed back millions of dollars in federal government funding in 2019 for the Berrima Road deviation project after failing to meet construction deadlines, the Southern Highland News reported. The council also failed to make a submission to the bushfires royal commission, which examined how local councils responded to the bushfire crisis.
Mr Bailey says the outgoing councillors proved themselves to be “completely inept”, citing a proposal to bulldoze trees in the town centre as part of a road widening project as one example of poor decision-making.
“I certainly won’t be pushing my view down their throats, but in day-to-day conversation over a blow dry those sort of issues come up,” he says.
Ms Leckie is lending her formidable networking skills to support Ms Crowley and her deputy lead candidate, Nicole Smith. “I’ve been helping with events,” she says. “I’ve got a lot of friends down here. I’m a good networker.”
Ms Leckie has handed out how-to-vote cards in past federal and state elections, but local politics does not neatly reflect the Liberal-Labor divide. She “thought long and hard about endorsing the girls”, expressing confidence they would prevail on September 4.
“There’s a huge groundswell of people who want change,” Ms Leckie says. “They’re looking for people who can deliver change and have integrity.”
Ms Storrier says this is her first political campaign and although she is “very much in the background” she wants to support new blood “as our council has been stagnating and mired in conflict for far too long and not serving the people”.
Actor John Waters is another “local ‘face’ showing interest” and spoke at the campaign’s launch.
Former federal Liberal leader John Hewson says the candidates led by Ms Crowley are “good people to put their names forward” and he expects them to do well.
Dr Hewson says the suspended council has been “just a shambles” that made dozens of the “most appalling decisions” and lost any sense of serving the community.
He concedes he was active behind the scenes to get rid of the council led by long-time mayor Duncan Gair.
Dr Hewson says the whole council should be replaced by “a range of independents, people with a diversity of community experience”. But he adds: “Unfortunately because their names are well known some former councillors could be re-elected”.
“You would think they’d be so bloody embarrassed by their failings, they wouldn’t dare stick their hands up again,” he says.
Mr Gair says he is disappointed that the council has been brought into disrepute because “a couple of councillors wouldn’t accept the majority decision”.
He says he was undecided about running for council again: “Part of me says ‘Yes, I have more to give to the community’. I think I’ve achieved a large amount in my time on council.”
Former councillor Ian Scandrett says he will stand for election, adding that he was not part of the “boys’ club” and stood firm against Mr Gair and his “cabal of eight votes and argued against various poor decisions that brought the council into disrepute”.
Ms Crowley says the council needs competent leadership to fight against urban sprawl and “protect the character of the shire”.
“The councillors were by majority out of touch with the wishes of residents and council became dysfunctional,” she says. “Our greatest concern is that suspended councillors run and may be re-elected.”
She adds that her high-profile backers want an end to the ongoing dysfunction.
“It should be understood that whilst good people like Skye Leckie, Janet Storrier and John Waters also happen to have a high profile, they are first and foremost passionate local residents who have a track record of being active on community issues,” Ms Crowley says.