Sydney Elects Olly Arkins as Its First Openly Trans Deputy Lord Mayor

Sydney has a new Deputy Lord Mayor, and she is the first openly transgender person to hold the job.

City of Sydney councillors elected Olly Arkins, a first-term Labor councillor, to the city’s second-highest civic office on September 21. Star Observer and City Hub, both of which reported the vote, described it as unanimous. New Zealand’s YOUR EX reported that Arkins was the only nominee and will serve until September 30, 2027, alongside long-serving Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

The Deputy Lord Mayor is elected each year by the council. The role supports the Lord Mayor with mayoral duties and can step in temporarily if the Lord Mayor is unable to act.

”Sydney at its best” and “at its worst”

Arkins has been clear that she does not want her election seen only as a milestone for trans representation. Star Observer reported that she wants it understood as a win for everyone who lives in the city.

“I ran for Council because I have lived in Sydney at its best; fun, welcoming, diverse and affordable,” Arkins said in a statement quoted by Star Observer. “I have also lived it at its worst; lockout laws, eye-watering rents and policing policies that attempted to put music festivals out of business.”

She named four priorities for her term:

• Affordable housing, including new affordable homes in Waterloo, which she has backed on council.
• Keeping council services in-house, delivered by City staff rather than for-profit contractors.
• Special Entertainment Precincts, which let venues trade later and host live performance under clearer rules on noise and hours.
• A permanent home for FBi Radio, the independent, not-for-profit community station that supports emerging Sydney artists.

“We can take our place as a global city, while deeply respecting our history — particularly that of First Nations people, whose culture should be at the forefront of how we set policy,” she said.

From swim instructor to City Hall

Arkins was born in Sydney. According to Star Observer, she trained as a nurse at Notre Dame in Darlinghurst while working as a swim instructor at the City’s Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre. She then spent more than a decade in cultural policy and advocacy across the music industry, festivals and government.

She won her council seat at the 2024 local government elections. Since then, she has been credited with introducing Special Entertainment Precincts in the city, extending library opening hours during exam periods, and leading a new sourcing framework that requires staff to better justify the roughly $1 billion in council services outsourced this term. She also set up a creative and nightlife concierge, a single point of contact for artists and venues that need help from the council.

She is Deputy Chair of the council’s Cultural, Creative and Nightlife Committee, Co-Chair of its Creative and Nightlife Advisory Panel, and has sat on the board of Local Government NSW since 2025.

The LGBTQ+ side of the job

Arkins’s focus on nightlife, rents and live music is closely tied to queer life in Sydney. Oxford Street and King Street, two of the city’s best-known LGBTQ+ neighbourhoods, have been shaped by the lockout laws, redevelopment and rising costs she criticises.

YOUR EX reported that earlier this year Arkins moved a successful council motion recognising the contribution of LGBTQIA+-owned and inclusive businesses to the city’s social, cultural and economic life, and naming Oxford Street and King Street as hubs of queer culture. Greek City Times reported that she has also helped deliver a new LGBTIQA+ services hub in Kings Cross. The Inner City Legal Centre, which has long provided legal help to LGBTQ+ people in Sydney, publicly congratulated her on the appointment.

Why it matters beyond one council

It is a local government post, and the Deputy Lord Mayor does not write state or federal law. But trans people in Australia, as in much of the world, are more often debated than heard. Debates over sport, healthcare and single-sex spaces have been a regular part of Australian politics in recent years.

Against that backdrop, having a trans woman in the second-highest civic office of one of Australia’s best-known cities, chosen by her council colleagues without a contest, sends a signal. It shows trans people as holders of political office and not only as the subject of policy arguments.

The same week, Transgender Victoria named 24 finalists for its 2026 Trans Visibility Awards, which recognise trans, gender diverse and non-binary community leaders across the state. Taken together, the two announcements show a community that is increasingly visible in civic and public life.

Arkins’s own framing may be the most useful one. She is not asking to be judged on being first. She is asking to be judged on whether Sydney becomes a city where people can afford to live and still find somewhere to dance. Her term runs for a year, and she will be measured on that record.