Woollahra mayor Sarah Dixson has faced criticism after revealing she had looked up the value of housing advocate Justin Simon’s home during a heated council debate over plans for 9,400 new homes in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The five-hour extraordinary meeting on Wednesday was called to determine Woollahra Council’s response to state government rezoning plans, which would concentrate higher-density development around Woollahra and Edgecliff railway stations, including towers of up to 32 and 34 storeys.
More than 10 housing advocates addressed the public forum, while several of the 13 councillors in attendance challenged their arguments. The meeting was marked by repeated interjections, tense exchanges and several points of order.
The confrontation over Mr Simon’s home began when councillor Mary-Lou Jarvis asked whether he could afford to buy a freestanding house in Elizabeth Bay, where the median price was cited as $5.4 million.
Mr Simon, chair of Sydney YIMBY, replied: “I could not afford to buy a house in Woollahra [council area] anywhere.”
Ms Dixson then said she had investigated his home before the meeting. “Hang on, I mean I’ve looked at the cost of your house, and you certainly could afford to, you certainly could,” she said.
She added: “The cost of his home, according to realestate.com, is more than the average price in Woollahra.”
Mr Simon expressed disbelief that the mayor had used the address he supplied when registering to speak. “Sorry, so the cost of my home … So you’ve taken my address that I signed up for to speak at council, and you’ve then gone and looked up my home on realestate.com? That’s such a bizarre … ”
Ms Dixson replied: “Yes, because realestate.com is such a reliable source of information.” When Mr Simon asked her to disclose where she lived or how much her home was worth, she said: “I don’t own a house.”
Mr Simon later accused the mayor of turning a policy debate into a personal attack and said he would complain to the Office of Local Government.
“How can people have confidence signing up to speak at Woollahra Council knowing that this is how their information is handled?” he said. “This kind of privacy violation will have a chilling effect on community participation.”
People registering to speak at the council’s public forums provide their full name, address, telephone number and email address. They must also agree that their face, voice and personal information can be recorded and made publicly accessible on the council’s website.
Ms Dixson defended her actions, saying the information was publicly available and relevant to demonstrating that claims made by Mr Simon were incorrect. She did not say whether she had searched for other speakers’ addresses or whether she had accessed his details independently or through a council employee.
Woollahra Council’s code of conduct states that councillors must “only access council information needed for council business, and not use that council information for private purposes”.
Andy Asquith, an academic who researches governance in local councils, said the wording of the standards was sufficiently vague to make it unclear whether the mayor had breached the policy.
“That sort of information is operational and should be accessed by a very small number of council employees, so the fact that the mayor accessed it is where the issue lies,” he said.
