Political Background and Council Career
Mallard was President of the New South Wales branch of the Young Liberals from 1993 to 1994, succeeding John Brogden, who later became leader of the NSW Liberal Party and NSW Leader of the Opposition.
Prior to election to the City of Sydney Council in March 2004, Mallard served as a Councillor on the South Sydney City Council, from July 2000. In 2004, both Councils were amalgamated. Mallard is the first Liberal endorsed candidate elected to the City of Sydney. In 2008, Mallard ran against sitting candidate, Clover Moore, for the popularly elected position of Lord Mayor, gaining 14% of the vote. Moore was re-elected.
Mallard was instrumental in setting up the City's register of same-sex relationships. Mallard has been accused of using the Liberal Party to advance the gay marriage issue, putting him in opposition to many party members, including the Federal Leader, Tony Abbott but putting him in support with former Federal Leader, Malcolm Turnbull who is the federal Member for Wentworth.
In 2009, Mallard faced two accusations of misconduct and for breaching Council's code of conduct. The first alleged indiscretion related to debating and voting on a development application before Council from a property developer that had allegedly made a donation to support Mallard's re-election to Council. Using parliamentary privilege, Lee Rhiannon, a Greens Member of NSW Legislative Council, accused Mallard of a second indiscretion by receiving illegal donations through provision of rent by a third party during the 2008 local government election campaign. Mallard admitted to the first breach before Council and asked the matter to be referred to the NSW Department of Local Government for investigation. He denied the second allegation. The Department of Local Government investigation cleared Mallard of allegations that he breached the Council’s code of conduct.
Following an earlier announcement that he would again run against Moore for the popularly elected position of Lord Mayor, in June 2012 Mallard announced that he would not contest the 2012 local government elections. In September 2012, Mallard was endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for the NSW Legislative Assembly seat of Sydney at the 2012 Sydney by-election but was beaten by Clover Moore-backed independent candidate Alex Greenwich.
Read more about this topic: Shayne Mallard
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