The local Byron Council election was rambling along in a sedate way until it all blew up. On Thursday, August 1st, police attended a domestic dispute at Mayor Michael Lyon’s property in The Pocket. The police were called, but when they arrived Mr Lyon had left the property, and he was arrested the next day in Tweed Heads. Lyon, 50, was charged with common assault DV and stalking/to intimidate intending fear, physical harm (Domestic Violence).
Independent Team Falls Apart
Then, on August 7th, Cr Mark Swivel posted online that he would no longer be running #3 on the Michael Lyon Independent Team. Meredith Wray also left the team. Mr Lyon’s court appearance is not scheduled until August 19th, and candidate applications closed yesterday, Wednesday 14th.
Michael Lyon is disappointed with how the incident was reported and is adamant it was a misunderstanding. His wife is still supporting him and has tried to have the charges withdrawn. However, it is police policy not to withdraw DVO charges even with the applicant’s wishes due to issues of coercive control.
These charges against Michael Lyon will not be adjudicated until after the 19th of August. He will then be able to discuss the incident further and intends to get clear air to make his bid to keep his mayoral role to be decided on September 14th.
Other Candidates
There are now five groups, five with mayoral candidates. They are Sarah Ndiaye (Greens), Asren Pugh (Labor), Michael Lyon (Independent), David Warth (Independent). Each has a team to be in the group section. The NSW Electoral Commission has since updated their website after this first version was sent out. Please go to that site for up-to-date info.
The attached article, The Candidates (which has also been updated) has the list and a bit more about each candidate. Meredith Wray, who was #2 on the independent ticket, left the team and is now running #3 on the new independent team led by Jack Dods.
Winners and Losers
There are still three candidates for mayor: Asren Pugh (Labor), Sarah Ndiaye (Greens), and Michael Lyon (Independent). Sarah is probably now the favourite to be elected as mayor, but Asren could be a dark horse. Michael Lyon, who was perhaps previously the favourite, now has a lot of ground to make up.
Whoever wins mayor will automatically have their number two elected as their votes go down the line. Then it could be three Greens and three Labor (Mark Swivel is still a strong candidate). Then, it will be two independents. If Michael Lyon fails in his bid to be reinstated, it could be Jack Dods and David Michie from the Independent team. I do not see any of the other ungrouped independents getting enough traction to win a seat. But, as we have seen, anything is possible.
Your email is out of date before it hit the mailbox 🙂
There are only 4 ungrouped candidates (Michael Lyons; Jeannette Martin ; Max Foggon; and Lucy Vader) – I’m told (not sure if its accurate) the first three were a group that failed to get a fourth.
The others (David Warth; Nyck Jeannes; Patricia Barker) were part of the Conspiracists group – looks like the final candidate Susan Figgis must have had delayed paperwork cos as soon as she showed up on the site, they are now grouped under Warth, who is also running for mayor.
Also – looks like David Michie is #2 on the Independents ticket, which makes it more likely he’ll get in than Meredith Wray.
As always – best to vote below the line – there are good candidates in three of the four groups, not necessarily at the top of the list. Ask around if you don’t know them.
Yes Mitra – it has been complicated. The info was late and changing as it went up on the Electoral commission site. There were a couple of errors most of which have been corrected.