Declan Clausen has been elected as Newcastle's Deputy Lord Mayor at a council meeting last night.
He came ahead of Liberal contender Jenny Barrie to score the job, nine votes to four.
Council also voted to extend the Deputy's term for the full length of the council's, meaning they won't vote again until the next election.
Mr Clausen was originally voted in as the city's youngest-ever deputy in 2017.
Greens councillor John Mackenzie pushed unsuccessfully to reduce the length to just six months.
He says a rotating roster for the position would set a more collaborative tone in the chamber.
"It's a really low stakes gesture towards showing that we're actually making an effort to cross the political divide, to get good outcomes for the City of Newcastle," Dr Mackenzie said.
"You're also building up the skills of councillors to take on some of these larger community roles during their time on council."
Ms Barrie, as well as independent John Church, also backed the proposal, but the move was shot down by the Labor majority, who argued the chamber needed stability.
 |
| Image credit: www.nuatalinelmes.com/declan |
