A fiery showdown is on the cards for Wollongong City Council’s next meeting. Photo: Wollongong City Council.
A showdown between two Wollongong councillors indicates party politics are eroding cohesion in the chambers.
Councillor Dan Hayes put out a media release claiming the Greens were using councillors throughout NSW to submit copy and paste anti-housing motions.
He singled out Wollongong councillor Deidre Stuart’s proposed motion against the Environmental Planning and Assessment (Planning System Reforms) Bill 2025 as an example.
“Similar motions have been submitted by Greens councillors in Kiama, Lane Cove, Clarence Valley, Bathurst, Shoalhaven, Waverley, Orange, Canada Bay, Hawkesbury, Northern Beaches, and Tweed,” he said.
“These motions are being submitted under the guise of local councillors raising their concerns, but it is a covert campaign by Greens political party operatives in Sydney.
“When you put the documents side by side you see how much has been copied and pasted.
“If this was a school assignment, they would fail due to plagiarism and be sent to the principal.”
Cr Hayes, a Labor councillor and long-time member of the party, defended the bill the motions oppose.
He said the bill, put by Wollongong Labor MP Paul Scully, would remove red tape, accelerate development, and get people into homes.
“Instead of working to fix the housing crisis we have the Greens councillors throughout NSW getting directions from a faceless staff member at the Greens political party headquarters in the inner west of Sydney about how to stop the NSW Government from building homes,” Cr Hayes said.
“The Greens need to come clean and disclose if any other motions they have put forward or any future motions they plan to submit have been written or dictated by others.
“How can they say they are representing the local community while taking direction from their political party machine and not disclosing who has written their motions?”
Cr Stuart hit back at the allegations.
She denied being directed by an external party member to put the motion, and said it was an example of collaboration rather than conspiracy.
“Elected representatives of a party collaborating with other elected representatives of the same party is not a radical concept,” Cr Stuart said.
“I chose to put this motion because of my own concerns arising from my understanding of matters which were actually first raised with me, not by Greens MPs or fellow Greens councillors, but in a very concerning email from a person in a not-for-profit organisation.
“I did not have to put this motion in and certainly life would be easier for me if I did not.
“The proposed reforms would roll back hard-fought environmental protections, reduce transparency and restrict the role of local input in planning decisions.
“Cr Hayes has spent time correctly identifying that many Greens councillors and MPs throughout NSW have deep concerns about the Planning Minister Paul Scully’s retrograde planning bill.
“I have spent more time reading through the bill and then the amendments, and discussing this with fellow Greens councillors across NSW rather than writing the notice of motion.”
Cr Stuart said her concerns with the bill were not just related to the environment, but to democracy.
She said although the bill was a NSW Government proposal it would have an effect on the Wollongong community, and as a result was relevant to local council.
“One of the Greens’ core four principles is grassroots participatory democracy,” she said.
“This bill proposes very significant changes to the state’s key planning legislation and to other legislation, yet the community has not been consulted about this – so no wonder Greens councillors and MPs are working together and speaking out against it.
“I think it is appropriate that councillors should raise matters that affect their communities … councils also play a role in advocating for their communities for many things, such as for good public transport and provision of new public schools.”
Of Wollongong City Council’s Lord Mayor and 12 councillors, eight belong to the Labor Party and three to the Greens.
Two councillors were elected as independents, although one, Councillor Ryan Morris, joined the Liberal Party shortly after being elected.
