Council elections were held state-wide last month, and the final results were announced today. We have six new councillors, as only three existing councillors were re-elected: Michael Lyon, Sarah Ndiaye, and Asren Pugh.
All were vying for the mayoral role, and Sarah Ndiaye (52%) just managed to beat Asren Pugh (48%) with around five hundred votes after preferences. Outgoing Mayor Michael Lyon failed to hold on to the gavel but did reclaim a councillor seat. Newcomer David Warth also failed a mayoral bid but won a council seat.
The final councillor vote gave the Greens four seats, including Sarah’s mayoral seat. The Green’s councillors are Elia Hauge, Delta Kay, and Michelle Lowe. Labor got two seats: Asren Pugh and Janet Swain. The three Independents are David Warth, Michael Lyon (outgoing mayor) and Jack Dods.
What it means
How will this election affect voting patterns? One could assume that the Greens would vote as a block. The two Labor and two of the independents, Jack and Michael, would vote together as they are pretty aligned (Centre Left/Progressive). David Warth is an unknown factor, and let’s deal with him later.
This would be a more predictable outcome if Sarah were leading a deep Green team (as in the Duncan Day/Jan Barham variety). But Sarah, or any of the team, are light Green and could just as likely vote with the Labor and Independents on specific issues. Also, the Greens have a history of their elected councillors going rogue and jumping ship.
Talking about Going Rogue
The biggest surprise in the election was independent David Warth’s high vote. He played a straight bat at the meet-the-candidate events and with his public policies. He was pro-business and pro-tourism, and many of his policies were fair and reasonable. He went to great lengths to play down the fact that he is a conspiracy theorist.
During COVID, Mullumbimby was well known as a flash point for anti-vaxers. We have had 5G towers attacked, and we all know advocates of the “Conspirituality” – a combo-cocktail of conspiracy and spirituality. Do we have 18% of the population down this rabbit hole, or did David Warth pick up some extra votes by not being transparent?
Another reason for Warth’s high support may have been the ringing endorsement from Echo editor Hans Lovejoy. It’s a worry when our local newspaper, which should provide better coverage of candidates, cannot even do basic research and give readers factual information.
Who is Overreaching?
No one denies the existence of conspiracies, government overreach and corporate surveillance. The trouble is when facts overreach into fiction, and people believe that the IMF and the UN are in cahoots to rule the world, take away our freedoms and inject us with microchips.
We live in a democracy and aspire to freedom of speech. Anyone can believe whatever they want. However, democracy can only work when wannabe politicians are open and transparent about how they want to affect policy and public discourse. I know people who voted for David and were annoyed when they found out his beliefs differed significantly from what was stated on the box.
Meet you at the “Fringe”
It has been well-documented that the far left is now meeting up with the far right in outer space. Who has not been surprised when someone you know suddenly thinks that Trump is a good guy and Tucker Carlson is their go-to guy for the truth? It has been reported that there were at least 3% of “fringe” candidates in this recent election, from the far left and the far right. This 15-minute video from a Central Coast conspiracy coordinator provides insight into their grand vision for a global takeover, one council election at a time.
Hi Michael, just wanted to say thanks for your comments about David Warth and the Echo’s lack of integrity in endorsing him without being truthful about his previously stated tin foil hat beliefs. I did know and wouldn’t have considered voring for him but at the meet the candidates he came across as being reasonable and “normal” and if I hadn’t known better I could well have been persuaded to vote for him. As I’m sure many people thought and did. Once again the Echo shows its strange bias – has never been the same under Hans’ editorship.
Hope you’re well,
(This person requested to remain anonymous)
Maybe – it was a conspiracy …. just think how much great reporting mileage the Echo will get from having a conspiracy nut on the council. All the nonsense about Smart Cities; Agenda 2030; 15 minute cities; 5G; anti-vax; anti-environmentalism that Warth promotes in his events; along with the Chemtrails; Climate Denial; Flat Earthism etc of many of his supporters leads for great news material.
But seriously – not making it very clear what people were voting for was a huge disservice of the Echo as I really hope we don’t have 17% of the shire so far down the rabbit hole they knowingly voted for Warth.