Jiu-jitsu coach, stand-up comic, apiarist: Inside the surprise day jobs of Sydney’s councillors

For 40 years, Victor Macri has spent five days a week cutting hair at Fernando’s Hair, the business his father started in Marrickville in 1960.

A dispute with local councillors over a building matter prompted Macri to run as an independent for the former Marrickville Council – which was later merged to form the Inner West Council – in 2004.

But the veteran councillor still spends Tuesday through Saturday giving haircuts with an ear to the ground.

“That’s how I keep in contact with the community,” Macri says. “I get all the complaints.”

He is among hundreds of local councillors in NSW for whom public office is not their primary source of income. From retail workers and Uber Eats drivers to martial arts masters and cosmetic surgeons, Sydney’s council chambers are filled with elected officials juggling a range of jobs.

Mayors and councillors at the state’s 128 local councils are not paid full-time wages but receive fees determined by the Local Government Remuneration Tribunal. Those payments are determined by the size and type of council on which they serve.

For example, a City of Sydney councillor is paid between $32,810 and $48,140. In Strathfield, it’s between $10,920 and $24,080.

Northern Beaches councillor Jody Williams is a trade lane gatekeeper three days a week at Bunnings, where he loads cars and checks receipts – and the community’s pulse.

He replies to emails during his lunch breaks, and Saturdays through Tuesdays are booked with council commitments, community events, and citizenship ceremonies.

Williams, a member of the Your Northern Beaches Independent Team, estimates he spends about two hours everyday reading council documents, but says it’s worthwhile.

“When you’re of service to other people, you forget about your own problems ... It’s about dopamine, and doing nice things for people,” he says.

Lane Cove Labor councillor David Roenfeldt drives buses from Sydney Airport to Yass and Canberra, while Bayside Council’s Chris Saravinovski, also Labor, works as an airport ramp agent, and is a jack-of-all-trades from baggage handling to health and safety.

Saravinovski says council work is flexible and rewarding.

“It’s not for the money,” he says. “You can’t survive on it ... I don’t blame any other councillor having another job and picking this up as a side thing.”

Wollondilly Mayor Matt Gould, an independent, once juggled council with drone piloting. Since becoming mayor, he resolved he could do “both poorly or one properly”.

Bayside Liberal councillor Dr Ron Bezic is a cosmetic surgeon, while the Hills Shire’s Dr Mila Kasby is a Greens councillor who stepped away from her veterinary practice to focus on volunteer work. She says the system favours financially comfortable candidates.

“We need a whole range of different people from different backgrounds … because councillors aren’t paid a living wage, I think that excludes a lot of people,” Kasby said.

Hawkesbury councillor Shane Djuric, who is a Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party member, was a beekeeper, but retired following a 2023 injury.

Trade-offs between full-time work and council push some to rely on side hustles.

Lane Cove Labor councillor Katie Little, a former DJ and stand-up comedian, manages a retirement village, but also boards dogs at her home.

Striking the balance between single motherhood, having a day job, and being a councillor made side hustles necessary.

“When I started dog boarding, the dogs sent to me came with food better than my kids and I were surviving on,” Little says.

Ethan Hrnjak, a Greens councillor from the Northern Beaches, studies law at Macquarie University. His odd jobs have included test kitchen assistant at KFC headquarters, and Uber Eats driving.

Ryde’s Felix Lo is a notary public and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach taking up to 15 classes a week. The Labor councillor says the similarities between governance and BJJ run deeper than it might seem.

“Jiu-jitsu is very much physical, but it’s also like playing chess. Every move, you have to be very careful ... This analogy can apply to local politics and in running the city, right?”

Blacktown has a retired NSW police chief inspector, Robert Fitzgerald, a Labor councillor, and police prosecutor Mohit Kumar, a Liberal, on council.

Kumar, who spends his days at Blacktown Court House, says his capacity is constrained by the fact his council role isn’t full-time. “There are a lot of sacrifices you got to make, especially with family.”

Some professions feature repeatedly.

Ryde’s Daniel Han, a Liberal, and Strathfield Labor councillor Rory Nosworthy both teach high school chemistry.

Independent Wollondilly councillor Suzy Brandstater has retired from music teaching, but is now an HSC exam invigilator.

Lawyers include Waverley Council independent Steven Lewis, Penrith’s Reece Nuttall, and Hawkesbury Deputy Mayor Sarah McMahon, both Liberals.

Political roles are common. Independent Federal MP for Fowler, Dai Le, sits on Fairfield Council, representing her area at two levels of government.

Blacktown’s police prosecutor Mohit Kumar is running as the Liberal candidate for Riverstone. Inner West Deputy Mayor Philippa Scott announced on Thursday that she would be the Labor candidate for Balmain.

Liverpool’s Matthew Harte, a Liberal, works for Tina Ayyad, member for Holsworthy, and North Sydney Greens councillor Angus Hoy is a policy and parliamentary adviser for NSW upper house MP Abigail Boyd. Penrith’s Libby Austin, a Labor councillor, was previously an electorate officer, and now works full-time at the Transport Workers’ Union of NSW.

Some councillors work across councils: Waverley’s Labor councillor Margaret Merten works in communications and marketing for the Inner West Council, and Sutherland Shire’s Haris Strangas, a Liberal, is a senior officer for government relations, advocacy, and stakeholder at Liverpool Council.

Among business owners, Sutherland Shire independent Carol Provan is a stylist, and a marriage and funeral celebrant, and Waverley’s Liberal councillor Dov Frazer is “chief relaxation officer” at his company Hammock Bliss.

A spokesperson for Local Government NSW, the peak body representing the state’s councils, says councillors invest a substantial amount of unpaid personal time in their work.

“The remuneration of NSW mayors and councillors has not kept pace with increases in the complexity of the role and increases in the cost of living.

“Ensuring elected representatives are fairly recognised and supported is critical to attracting and retaining talented community leaders and maintaining strong local democracy.“

Some councillors disagree on remuneration increases. Cumberland’s Joseph Rahme, a Liberal, says councillors should work for the love of the community.

“It’s being a bit tone-deaf if you’re putting your hand up for a pay rise.”

A NSW Office of Local Government spokesperson said councillors served “out of a sense of civic service, with many holding employment, business or community commitments alongside their roles as councillors”.

The state government requires councillors to disclose conflicts of interest and alternative income sources. Councillors are prohibited from working as a member of the NSW Parliament, a judge, or an employee of the council on which they serve.

Real estate agents and developers are permitted to stand on council, but are required to declare conflicts as required.

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