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Rose Tattoo Frontman Running For Local Government

Legendary frontman Gary "Angry" Anderson, best known for his work with hard rockers Rose Tattoo, has announced he will be contesting for a seat at the upcoming New South Wales local government elections.

Sydney Morning Herald reports with the following: "He may have once been a bad boy for love but the diminutive tattooed rocker Angry Anderson thinks he would be good for the people of Warringah.

Gary "Angry" Anderson is one of 87 people standing for Warringah Council at the September 13 local government elections, including 12 who would like to wear the mayoral robes.

The lead singer of the rock band Rose Tattoo, who has lived on the northern beaches of Sydney for 22 years, might be best known for his rock'n'roll antics but he will have plenty of competition in the bad behaviour stakes.

Even before nominations closed on Wednesday, the candidates lining up to serve Warringah for the first time since the council was sacked six years ago had been slinging mud.

Some of the councillors sacked in 2002, after a government inquiry found the council was divided and dysfunctional beyond the point of recovery, have put their hands up for another go, including the former mayor Julie Sutton. But they have been criticised by their former colleagues as having too much baggage. The council has form, having been sacked three times since 1967.

The slanging much has even spilled over to the popular online encyclopedia site Wikipedia, where an entry on Warringah Council has been altered more than 40 times this year, in some instances to change details about the sacked councils and their elected officials.

Listed third on the ballot paper for a group of independents, Anderson does not expect to be elected in a contest involving resident groups such including "We Love Warringah" (backed by the comedian and broadcaster Wendy Harmer), "Wake Up Warringah", the Greens, Save Our Suburbs and a Liberal Trojan horse called Warringah 08 headed by a former Young Liberals president, Jason Falinski.

But Anderson is keen to serve the community he adopted after moving from Melbourne, where he grew up in the working-class suburb of Coburg.

"I've always been involved in local issues as a resident," he said. "There is a high level of concern about what seems to me to be some very self-interested people on the peninsula who have been involved in council in the time I have lived here."

He said he was not lining up with any political party and although he had supported Labor in the past, these days he made decisions about issues on their merits rather than political allegiance.

Anderson said big issues facing the area were the Spit Bridge, preserving the environment, improving policing, and looking after local schools and hospitals."