By NOEL MURPHY
HIS FEET have hardly touched the ground since being propelled into Geelong’s mayoral office but Darryn Lyons is doing little to ease the pace.
The first few weeks on the job for Geelong’s new mohawk mayor have included spruiking the city, hosing spot fires and elevating Geelong’s profile with widespread TV, radio, newspaper and online coverage of his election.
He was in Canberra the day of Clive Palmer’s maiden speech and as the Abbott Government grappled to redress the Gonksi funding issue to meet figures including the Prime Minister and opposition leader Bill Shorten.
Soon after returning home he confronted Jetstar’s bombshell that it could exit Avalon.
In between he has had meetings with premiers, MPs, City Hall department heads, lobbyists and councillors.
“Within a week of getting into office I’d had meetings with the prime minister and leader of the opposition,” Cr Lyons told the Independent.
“What was achieved in that first week was quite extraordinary but we have to keep that momentum of change going through the place.
“There are changes to be made, I’m not going to make any bones about that but we have some extremely talented officers and staff.
“I had a meeting and asked for a couple of things and people have come back within 24 hours saying, ‘We can do’. Now that’s not reactive, that’s proactive.
“There’s a mislaid perception that a lot of people are walking around here doing nothing.”
But Cr Lyons was concerned Geelong was unrepresented to higher tiers of government with a single voice and that multiple approaches confused and confounded council’s prospects.
Canberra wanted to speak with one person who was across everything Geelong and it should be the mayor, he said.
“There’s been a lot of people running about with their own agendas and no cohesion. We need people to look at Geelong as a major investment for the future.
“It’s vital we advertise with the brand that’s just walked in but I don’t want to run business, I want to facilitate business to run.”
Cr Lyons’ inner sanctum at City Hall overlooks Johnstone Park, perhaps a ready simile for the change he hopes to effect.
The park was once a swamp and dumping ground for animal carcasses – today it’s a sparkling advertisement for Geelong.
