Clover Moore, Sydney Council's mayor, raised a ruckus last night by demanding that she be able to appoint the Deputy-Mayor. The current method is to have the deputy elected by sortition - basically draw a candidate from names in a hat. The Local Government Act in NSW contradicts Moore's claim that she can appoint a Deputy.
Clover Moore was
quoted in the SMH as saying;
It is ridiculous in this day and age that Sydney's deputy lord mayor needs to be appointed through a draw from a hat.
and;
Relying on the luck of the draw is undemocratic and until the State Government sees fit to amend the legislation I will continue to delegate duties to councillors based on their skill, interest and availability.
Yet her alternative was even more undemocratic where Moore, as Council Executive, would appoint the Deputy.
There is a bit of a history in the Sydney Council of "draw of the hat" sortition.
Shane Mallard was elected to the Central Sydney Planning Committee by lot and was not endorsed by the Mayor or Planning Minister. This points to sortition's value in breaking executive and party machine control of Executive and Legislative functions.
Functions and procedures of Local Councils in NSW are contained in the State Legislation of the
Local Government Act 1993. The section relating to the election of the Deputy Mayor is
SECT 231;
Deputy mayor (1) The councillors may elect a person from among their number to be the deputy mayor.
(2) The person may be elected for the mayoral term or a shorter term.
(3) The deputy mayor may exercise any function of the mayor at the request of the mayor or if the mayor is prevented by illness, absence or otherwise from exercising the function or if there is a casual vacancy in the office of mayor.
(4) The councillors may elect a person from among their number to act as deputy mayor if the deputy mayor is prevented by illness, absence or otherwise from exercising a function under this section, or if no deputy mayor has been elected.
There is nothing in that legislation which enables the Mayor to appoint the Deputy. This was an example of Executive over-reach and the Councillors were right to react in the manner they did.
I think it is great that the Sydney Council has a wonderful tradition of election through sortition. That they use a hat is even better.
More Information
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Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
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