Former 60 Minutes reporter Charles Wooley has been sworn in as Hobart’s lord mayor, saying residents elected the new council “to fix things” rather than fight each other.
He took the oath this evening wearing a Scottish kilt as he paid tribute to his Scottish heritage.
Wooley told the ceremony his family had ties to Clan MacGregor, which lost its lands after rising with Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, when the tartan was banned.
“Our people were rounded up and sent to America and Canada, later to New Zealand and to Australia,” he said.
He said he was born on the Scottish island of Arran and his great-grandfather, Captain Charles Wooley, became harbour master at Suva in Fiji after sailing around the world many times “in the fastest ship afloat”, the clipper ship Cutty Sark.
In his speech, Wooley said he first saw Hobart at 17, when he came from Launceston to go to university, where he edited the university newspaper.
He said that as a young reporter he “had a fair bit to do with saving the Franklin”.
“The kind that is interested in rivers and forests, not the kind that’s interested in political power and social engineering,” he said of his environmentalism.
“I stood for this office with no political party behind me,” he said.
He said he was “old enough not to be auditioning for anything”.
Wooley said he wanted the new council to work differently from the last one.
“Today marks the start of a new chapter for Hobart and I intend it to be a positive one,” he said.
“Every one of us was elected by the people of this city, for this city. We are here to serve Hobartians, not for any party, ideology or interest group.”
He said residents were tired of conflict on the council.
“For too long, the people of Hobart have watched this council argue and they’ve had enough,” he said.
“They didn’t elect us to fight each other, they elected us to fix things.”
The lord mayor said he expected councillors to have different views.
“Hobart is one of the best cities in the world and I know that every single member of the new Council wants to make it better,” he said.
“We’ll disagree on how to do that and that’s fine, but my fervent hope is that we do so without fighting and name-calling.”
Eight councillors are being sworn in alongside him: Bill Harvey, Mike Dutta, Zelinda Sherlock, John Kelly, Louise Elliot, Ryan Posselt, Simon Behrakis and Harvey Lennon.
Wooley and Lennon are serving their first terms on Hobart City Council. The other councillors have all served before.
The ceremony was held at a hotel on Collins Street rather than the usual Hobart Town Hall ballroom.
The City of Hobart said this was because of temporary accessibility issues with the Town Hall lift.
“This is no reflection on the council, though it may be the mayor’s first instruction to council,” Wooley joked.
Councillors will vote on a new deputy lord mayor at their first council meeting, to be held in the Hobart Town Hall Council Chambers on November 16.
