Clover Moore says ageism and sexism are at play as she seeks a record sixth term as the lord mayor of Sydney after the “most desperate” campaign she has experienced in decades of public life.
The 78-year-old longtime independent says her progressive stance and gender have made her a target of the Murdoch press throughout her career, which has turned “older Anglo men” against her.
“It could be misogyny … I’ve been an independent, a woman, a progressive,” she says.
New South Wales residents will vote in their local government elections on Saturday, with this year’s council polls making national headlines after the state Liberal party disastrously failed to nominate 140 candidates in 16 councils.
Since being elected lord mayor in 2004, Moore has fought to make Sydney a cycling city, with the council building more than 25km of bike lanes over the past 20 years.
But the active transport infrastructure has been controversial among many residents, businesses and aspects of the media in the “the city that hates bikes”, so dubbed by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2010.
Moore says that bike lanes, a key plank of her mayoral reign, aren’t “so revolutionary” now, but that News Corp publications still “make out they are, and that has real appeal to those older Anglo men who get angry when they see me, which is a real pity”.
“They are on the wrong side of history,” she says.
Moore explains the mental maths she does when a “grumpy old man” answers the door when she is out meeting constituents.
“I say to myself, now, does he listen to 2GB? Does he read the Daily Tele? Was it about my support for the gay and lesbian community, or was it about bike lanes? These things that go through my mind if someone’s really rude to me. It’s a type.”
Moore says it all started in the mid-1990s when she fought against the then premier, Bob Carr, leasing part of Moore Park to create Fox Studios.
“Everyone’s aware that Murdoch goes after me. They’ve probably all forgotten the history of it,” she says.
More recent clashes include the 2019 brawl with former federal energy minister Angus Taylor after he accused the City of Sydney of spending $15m on travel when the true figure was less than $300,000.
A story including the claim was published in the Daily Telegraph before the Guardian exposed the falsified document it was based on.
Moore explains that when her team re-posts unflattering articles from the Sydney tabloid, commenters tell her “no one else reads the Tele”, but she admits she doesn’t like it, nonetheless.
Much of the coverage of Moore’s tilt at re-election, including in this publication, has mentioned her age. Opponents have called for “fresh ideas” and questioned if anyone should be in the top job that long.
“I’ve always had barriers. It was as a woman, that I was independent. Now it’s my age,” Moore says.
“I’m challenging this one, too, for other women who are still in their prime and want to keep working.”
And she wants to keep going for another term.
She says the intention would be to anoint a successor and then see them installed at the 2028 election, to keep the city in progressive, independent hands. Although she hasn’t entirely ruled out going again.
“I want to focus on winning the election with the team and I do believe, probably after that, I will probably decide to support someone,” she says.
“The parties want the city. They’ve always seen the city as a crown that they want.”
Labor is running Zann Maxwell for the top job. He was an adviser to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and studied law at the University of Melbourne. Despite missing the deadline to nominate candidates for 16 other councils, the Liberal party successfully lodged paperwork in the Sydney municipality, and voters will see councillor Lyndon Gannon on the ballot.
Gannon says the council has been the “Clover show” for too long and hopes the longtime mayor will lose her majority grip on the council.
“After 20 years, there’s a need for change in the city,” he says, listing initiatives he hopes could breathe life into areas struggling after the Covid pandemic.
But despite saying that Moore’s five terms in office had been a “bloody long time”, Gannon had the same stance as the lord mayor, that as long as the community wanted him to represent them, he would.
The race is hard to predict without proper polling. Electoral analyst Ben Raue told the Guardian that the most Moore’s rivals could really hope for was to reduce her margin and the number of her “independent” councillors in the chamber.
At the last election, Moore received almost 43% of the first-preference votes. Fellow independent Yvonne Weldon garnered a little over 12%, while Labor’s Linda Scott got nearly 15% and was beaten by Liberal candidate Shauna Jarrett by a few hundred votes.
Rod Tiffen, University of Sydney emeritus professor in government, says it is quite remarkable that Moore has been able to hold on to power for 20 years given the enemies she has had since the start.
“It’s a truism about governments and leaders that the longer they’re in, the more scars and wounds and grievances they attract,” he says.
“She had enemies from the very beginning from various vested interests. It’s just a pretty amazing achievement to have lasted this long.”
There is a constant rumble around Sydney about Moore’s tenure but it’s reached a new volume during this campaign.
Libertarian candidate Sean Masters has plastered posters with the slogan “We’re Over Clover” across Sydney. Some of those placed above Moore’s own on lamp-posts have been hand-annotated with “literally”.
The prominent signs and the tenor of the debate have taken a toll on Moore.
“It’s pretty hurtful, really, but they’re all desperate,” she says. “It’s the most desperate election so far.
“They’re attacking the team. And of course, if the team doesn’t get elected, it’s going to be much harder to keep our work going. That’s what concerns me.”
Despite two decades in the top job, there is still more on Moore’s list. At the top is continuing work on lowering emissions.
“One of our biggest challenges has been taking action that we should take on climate change,” she says.
“You’ll see it in as much as you see the bike lanes, the public transport, the tree planting, the EV charging, the ban of gas appliances in new buildings.”
The completion of the bike lane network across the city, including along the languishing Oxford Street, is also of utmost importance.
Despite her passion for enabling the population to cycle around the city, Moore herself hasn’t cycled in more than a decade after a nasty crash that saw her ankle crushed and her using a wheelchair for six months.
“What you are meant to do if that happens is you get straight back on … but I just thought, ‘OK, I really love walking. I’m very happy walking’.”
Moore wants to see Green Square completed with plantings and facilities and a true renewal of the Surry Hills and Chinatown precincts that have struggled since the pandemic.
She also hopes to improve the final section of the Barangaroo precinct that she says has become a “typical Sydney” project – “by that, I mean you try and make as good as it can be, but it could have been so much better”.
Despite the disappointment at the harbourfront precinct, and others, Moore still has a passion for the work.
“I love city making, and my view is that I’m up for it if the community’s up for it, too,” she says.
“I don’t know where the years have gone. The time just whips by.”
