Tweed Shire Mayor Chris Cherry will not seek another term as mayor, closing the book on six years that saw her steer the fast-growing region through COVID-19 border closures, the devastating 2022 floods and ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The independent councillor confirmed she will step aside when councillors vote for the mayoral position on Thursday, 17 September, though she will remain on Tweed Shire Council for the rest of the current term, another two years.
Cr Cherry was first elected to the council in 2016, served three years as deputy mayor, and has held the top job since 2020, most recently returned unopposed at the 2024 election.
Posting on Facebook, Mayor Cherry said the time had come to let someone else take the wheel.
“After 6 years leading one of the fastest growing Shires and biggest regional Councils in NSW I have decided that it is time to provide the opportunity for someone new to have a turn at the helm and will not be standing in this year’s Mayoral election in September,” she said.
“Now others are throwing their hat in the ring and I am happy to allow someone else to explore the opportunity for the next two years to lead with compassion and strength.”
Cr Cherry described her time in the role as “exciting, humbling, challenging and fulfilling.”
“It has also been dominated by pretty devastating extreme events, like Covid border closures, drought, bushfire, floods and a cyclone,” she said.
Through it all, she said she had tried “to steer a very steady ship, to help people change what we can change and work with what we can’t.”
Housing affordability has become one of the council’s biggest headaches on Cr Cherry’s watch. Rental vacancies sit at around one per cent, median house prices have almost doubled since 2019, and council figures show more than 500 homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable in the 2022 floods.
“There is still a long way to go in terms of affordability and availability of housing but we are setting the road map to try to get there in the GMHES,” she said.
Cr Cherry, an independent, said she intends to nominate the current deputy mayor, Cr Reece Byrnes, a member of the Australian Labor Party, to take over the top job.
Cr Byrnes made history in 2016 when, at just 28, he became the youngest councillor ever elected to Tweed Shire Council.
“For this reason, I am intending to nominate Cr Byrnes for the role of Mayor for the next two years. He has served five terms as Deputy Mayor and demonstrated he is ready to step up to the role,” Cr Cherry said.
Cr Cherry said the timing was deliberate, with the council now “on the tail end of our flood recovery journey and in a much stronger position to face the next event.”
“I think it is time for a changeover during this peace time, so hopefully a new Mayor will have time to find their feet before our next challenge,” she said.
“It’s a tough job – you have to balance what the community wants and what is allowed under legislation with what we can afford to pay for as a community,” she said.
“I wish courage, patience and strength to whoever is in the job for the next two years.”
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