This portrayal was based on a single unanimous decision about paid carparking in the Newcastle CBD.
In that decision, notices of motion from Liberal and Labor councillos arising from election commitments they made to stop the spread of paid parking in the CBD were combined in a spirit of cooperation.
It was certainly an instance of collaboration among elected councillors on a major issue (though the decision was made in the absence of any information about - or consideration of - its impact on other council programs dependent on the projected parking income, and on a range of other council policies and strategies, such as city renewal, transport, cycling, and climate change, which will now have to be reviewed and adjusted over the coming months).
The vote had two immediate consequences: it stopped the roll-out of paid parking in the CBD, and it stimulated positive local news coverage for the newly elected council about how it signalled a new spirit of cooperation.
But other decisions at the same council meeting indicated a different possible trajectory.
Earlier in the night, the new council scrapped the previous system of rotating the Newcastle Deputy Lord Mayor position between all interested councillors over the four year council term. This usually resulted in each Deputy Lord Mayor serving a 4 month term.
It was introduced in the 1990s as a way of giving all councillors an opportunity to perform the role, and of defusing the back-room political wheeling and dealing that usually accompanies annual appointments.
The annual appointment system was recommended by council staff, without any explanation, despite the rotation system being the status quo in Newcastle.
The option to keep the rotation system was proposed (by Greens councillor Michael Osborne), but lost 7 to 6 votes, with the four Liberal councillors combining with three Independents against the four Labor and two Greens councillors.
The next major vote at the meeting was on a proposal to reverse the previous council's decision to give away the city's childcare centres.
This had caused significant concerns among some childcare centre management committees, who said that the decision had been made before they had been provided with sufficient information to judge whether or not accepting the council's "gift" would be viable for them, and without fully exploring and discussing other options, such as leasing.
The 8-5 vote to change this decision and undertake more consultation with the childcare management committees was supported by the Labor (4) and Greens (2) councillors, and by two of the Independents. The four Liberal councillors and Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy opposed the change.
So, as a glimpse into the future voting patterns and dynamics on the new council, the first meeting was really more a mixed bag than the love-in portrayed by the media.
I suspect this is a more accurate indicator of how things will be.
