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Jeff McCloy

Jeff McCloy
Lord Mayor of Newcastle
In office
8 September 2012 – 17 August 2014
DeputyBrad Luke
Preceded byJohn Tate
Succeeded byNuatali Nelmes
Personal details
BornBelmont, New South Wales, Australia
Political partyIndependent
Alma materUniversity of Newcastle
OccupationChairman, McCloy Group
Engineer

Jeffrey Raymond McCloy is an Australian property developer, who served Lord Mayor of Newcastle between 2012 and 2014. Before entering politics, he ran his own construction company, which built John Hunter Hospital. In 2008 he won the Hunter Business Chamber 2008 Business Person of the Year, and in 2009 he won the City of Newcastle Medal.[1]

McCloy campaigned for the removal the rail line through the centre of Newcastle and, despite being nominally an independent, supported Liberal candidates in the Council ward elections.[2] Polling day in 2012 was marked by controversy when the running mate of an opposing candidate switched sides to support McCloy.[2]

In 2012, McCloy met the then Opposition Leader (and future Prime Minister of Australia) Tony Abbott to discuss the future of the Newcastle CBD.[3] In 2013, he held a joint press conference with Abbott and Newcastle victims of the Bali bombings in support of Abbott's proposed legislation to assist victims of terrorism overseas.[4]

McCloy opposed rainbow crossings in support of Gay rights, referring to them as "nonsense", and used council resources to remove them, despite claims they did not breach any laws. After Lake Macquarie and Cessnock councils expressed support for the rainbow crossings, McCloy attacked Cessnock as a "bloody mess" and threatened to arrange for Lake Macquarie City Council chambers to be "chalked with half a ton of chalk".[5]

McCloy appeared at a hearing of the Independent Commission Against Corruption 14 August 2014 relating to Operation Spicer, an investigation into allegations of corrupt conduct in relation to the 2011 elections in New South Wales.[6] He was recalled to give further evidence on Friday 12 September 2014.[7]

Tim Owen, the Liberal member for Newcastle, and Andrew Cornwell, the Liberal member for Charlestown, each admitted accepting amounts of $10,000 from McCloy. As a result, both Owen and Cornwell resigned from parliament on 12 August 2014.

On 17 August 2014, McCloy resigned as Lord Mayor of Newcastle, effective immediately. He said his resignation was due to ongoing controversy over his appearance before the Independent Commission Against Corruption, which he said "may effect [sic] the proper functioning" of Newcastle City Council.The subsequent by-election was won by Nuatali Nelmes.[8]

In 2015, McCloy's attempts to overturn part of a New South Wales Act of Parliament, enacted to prevent developers from making political donations, were rejected by the High Court of Australia.[9] The case was significant in Australian constitutional law, as it clarified the extent to which the Constitution of Australia provides an implied freedom of political communication, and expanded on the proportionality test developed in Lange v Australian Broadcasting Corporation.[10][11]

  1. ^ "Newcastle Lord Mayor". Newcastle.NSW.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2 March 2014.
  2. ^ a b "McCloy to be Mayor". Newcastle Star. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Abbot and McCloy talk CBD revitalisation". ABC.net.au.
  4. ^ "TRANSCRIPT: Tony Abbott, Jeff McCloy, Jaimie Abbott media conference". The Newcastle Herald.
  5. ^ "Chalk rainbows a no-go for McCloy". The Newcastle Herald.
  6. ^ "NSW public officials and members of Parliament - allegations concerning soliciting, receiving and concealing payments (Operation Spicer)". ICAC.nsw.gov.au. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018.
  7. ^ McCloy v Latham [2015] NSWSC 1879 at [6], Supreme Court (NSW).
  8. ^ Nicholls, Sean; Gordon, Jason (17 August 2014). "Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy quits before being pushed". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Former lord mayor Jeff McCloy loses High Court bid to overturn developer donation ban". ABC News. 7 October 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  10. ^ McCloy v New South Wales [2015] HCA 34, (2015) 257 CLR 17 (7 October 2015), High Court.
  11. ^ Twomey, Anne (13 October 2015). "Proportionality and the Constitution". Australian Law Reform Commission. Retrieved 12 June 2016.

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