An outgoing City of Sydney councillor is warning that a lack of parental leave entitlements is skewing the make-up of councils to not reflect their communities.
Councillor Jess Scully is resigning from the council, citing a lack of parental leave entitlements ahead of the birth of her second child this year.
Cr Scully, who has been a councillor since 2016 and served as deputy lord mayor for three years, says its too difficult to balance the workload with raising a young family.
"I just can't miss a council meeting, or all the votes will be off and the will of Sydney won't be represented," Cr Scully told ABC Radio Sydney.
She was widely tipped to be the successor to Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
In leaving the council, Cr Scully wants to draw attention to the issue, which she says discourages people with young families from becoming involved with council.
"If you don't have that inclusive and diverse mix of perspectives, then you don't have genuine democratic representation," Cr Scully said.
"I just felt like I have to leave and it doesn't feel like something we should be contending with in 2023.
"It feels like the public service in 1950."
'Out of step with community expectation'
Cr Scully told ABC Radio Sydney when she had her first child in 2019, she was back in council chambers three weeks later.
She said taking leave from council was difficult given the small size of council and the expectation that councillors were available.
Not being able to arrange leave or have a pairing system like state and federal parliaments was also not in line with expectations of what a workplace should provide, Cr Scully said.
"I think it's just kind of out of step with community expectation," she said.
Local government expert Professor Roberta Ryan said this had a disproportionate impact on women trying to participate in local councils.
"It's not good for us in terms of governance," Professor Ryan told ABC Radio Sydney.
"We have such capable people who feel that they can't do this role for which they have great passion because they're just not remunerated properly."
In a minute for next week's council meeting, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it was appalling that councillors were not eligible for parental leave.
"Because of that, there are fundamental barriers to public service for many in our community because it's necessary to earn a living and contribute to family needs," Cr Moore said.
Representation impacted
Cr Scully said she earned $42,000 a year to put in around 50 hours a week for what was considered a part-time job.
Professor Ryan said it was common for councillors, some of whom earn as little as $12,000 a year, to put "enormous" hours into the role even if the pay did not reflect the workload.
"Those kinds of fee arrangements, of course, don't reflect anything like the time that's dedicated to these roles," Professor Ryan said.
"It's extremely demanding in terms of time."
Time demands and low pay kept parenting-aged women out of councils and led to councillors being largely white, male and older, Professor Ryan said.
"It skews the representativeness of councils in terms of their elected members," Professor Ryan said.
"To dedicate that kind of time for that kind of money, you know, it's just not possible for many, many people."
Cr Scully said people from diverse walks of life were needed on local councils especially when they needed to deal with big issues.
"Like this housing crisis we're going through. I wonder how many people on local councils are actually renters rather than the landlords," Cr Scully said.
