By Lisa Visentin
When Kerryn Phelps stood as the top candidate on the Clover Moore Independent ticket at the 2016 City of Sydney elections, she was under the impression she would serve as the lord mayor's heir, leaving her well-placed to launch her own bid for mayor.
But Cr Phelps said that in her first meeting with Cr Moore following the team's thumping election victory in September, the lord mayor informed her she would only endorse her as deputy mayor for the first year of her council term.
"The first meeting, five days after the election, she told me she would only support me for the first year. I was pretty shocked."
Cr Phelps, who resigned from the Clover Moore team during a council meeting on Monday night, said while there had been no formal deal between the two councillors, the lord mayor had not disabused her of the belief that she was being anointed for the top job through the deputy role.
Former AMA boss Dr Kerryn Phelps has lent her support to the campaign.Credit: Louie Douvis
"She knew that was my expectation," Cr Phelps told Fairfax Media on Tuesday. "She allowed me and others to believe that. It was the impression created not by me."
Cr Phelps – a high-profile doctor and marriage equality advocate – handed her resignation to Cr Moore on Monday night, citing her desire to serve as a "true independent" on council.
Her resignation followed a speech on the floor of the council chamber, in which she expressed concern over the lack of transparency in preparing the council's draft expenses policy. The policy entitles the mayor to 22 full-time staff and a $3.6 million annual office budget.
"I was in no way questioning the honesty or integrity of the council or any individual, just the process."
In better days: Town crier Graham Keating, Jess Miller, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and Professor Kerryn Phelps on the steps of Town Hall at the proclamation of the 2016 council.Credit: Louise Kennerley
Cr Moore responded with a statement of recriminations on Monday night, labelling Cr Phelps' conduct as the "worst kind of politics I have seen in the Chamber in a long time."
"What is not surprising is that this line of accusation and her resignation came just a week after I told her that I would not be supporting her bid to remain deputy lord mayor," Cr Moore's statement said.
Adding to her comments on Tuesday, Cr Moore said Cr Phelps had asked to join her ticket ahead of the 2016 election, and said there was "no agreement" that she would remain deputy mayor for the whole term.
"[H]ad I known then that being deputy was a condition of her joining the team I would not have had her on the ticket."
In an interview with the ABC, she said Cr Phelps "doesn't get what our policies are about" and would be "more comfortable with the conservatives on council."
Cr Phelps rejected Cr Moore's characterisation of her decision to quit as "disingenuous." She said she'd known from September she did not have the lord mayor's support to remain her deputy and had "carried on regardless and performed my duties."
Her resignation, she said, had been "a long time coming". It was the culmination of issues mounting "over some months".
"I really have not been free to speak on issues that are important to me and life has been made unpleasant for me when I did," she said.
She pointed to the issue of registration for cyclists, which she endorsed in February, as having placed her at odds with Cr Moore who strongly opposed the idea.
"That was a pretty unpleasant time," Cr Phelps said.
Liberal councillor Christine Forster said the mayor had been "sidelining" Cr Phelps in favour of promoting her other colleagues.
"She's been giving Cr Jess Scully all the jobs to do in council. She's been the one getting wheeled out at community functions rather than the deputy lord mayor as you would expect."
It's not the first time the lord mayor has parted ways unceremoniously with colleagues. In 2012, Cr Moore dropped Cr Phillip Black from her ticket months out from the election, allegedly telling him he no longer met her "core values". A second councillor, John McInerney, decided not to run again after disagreeing with Cr Moore on a number of key local issues.
Cr Phelps drew some criticism from her colleagues for the public manner of her resignation.
"We were blind-sided. Kerryn didn't tell us she was going to make such a speech last night," Philip Thalis, a member of the Clover Moore team, said.
Cr Thalis said members of Clover Moore's team often disagreed on issues and had, on occasion, voted against party lines on the floor of the chamber.
"We all do [disagree] constantly and we work through it co-operatively, and I'm disappointed Kerryn did not pursue the cooperative part."
Cr Phelps will continue to serve the remainder of the term as deputy mayor, but is expected to relocate to the opposition benches in council meetings.
Cr Moore will continue to exercise control over the City of Sydney. With the support of her four councillors – Philip Thalis, Jess Scully, Robert Kok, and Jess Miller – she will retain the casting vote in council decisions.