Bye God!
The Inner West is looking like a non-religious bunch, with statistics from the state government showing that most Inner West families are not religious. Taking the cake for least religious school in the state is Australia Street Infants School in Newtown, with 90 per cent of students nominating no religion, followed by Ashfield’s Yeo Park Infants School at 87 per cent. Word on the street is that parents in the area are hoping to eject scripture lessons from the school curriculum, and instead introduce relationships education programs rather than abolishing classes altogether. Newtown state Greens MP Jenny Leong says NSW should be following Victoria’s decision to teach children about “preventing domestic violence, appreciating diversity, and world histories, cultures and faiths.”
The race heats up
Angelo Tsirekas’ fortunes continue to sink, as the former Canada Bay Mayor has been relegated to second place on Labor’s ticket. The smooth operator was Mayor for as long as anyone could remember, and graced our covers repeatedly (even scoring Ciao’s “Mr Inner West” title many years in a row). Head of the ticket, controversial former CFMEU boss Andrew Ferguson, has been accused of branch stacking and faking addresses of electors to gain more votes. These electoral irregularities aren’t good news for the Labor fight for control of Canada Bay Council.
Merger Dies
Tiny Inner West community group, Save our Strathfield, has won its battle against local government mergers after Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared council amalgamations dead this month. The people power movement began four years ago with a few angry residents. They’ve now turned into budding politicians themselves, with senior members standing for election as Independents. The group says that, without standing up to the man, “we will all wake up and find our beautiful area has been turned into a high rise hell”.