Here we go again - Council Vacancy

April 3, 2025
Updated October 30, 2025

On March 27, 2025, Oberon Council issued the following media release:

On behalf of Council, I advise that Councillor Michael Crye has relinquished his position on Oberon Council. Circumstances arose which meant Michael could no longer hold the position as a Councillor. Councillor Crye replaced Jill O'Grady when she resigned from Council earlier this year.

In considering this, Michael stated "Due to unforeseen circumstances I must relinquish my position as Councillor of Oberon Council. Whilst only short I consider it a privilege to be elected by my community. I wish to thank the Mayor for his kindness and understanding and to the General Manager for his sound advise. I would also like to say a quick thank you to Councillor Ian Tucker for his insights and support. In my short tenure I believe that our community is in very good hands given the acumen of the Councillors in the chambers".

As Mayor I would like to say that, although Michael's tenure was relatively short, he actively contributed to Council business and debate and will be missed by his fellow Councillors for his broad understanding of issues affecting the Oberon community.

Council will fill the vacant position through the Countback Election method, as resolved at its October 2024 Ordinary Council Meeting. This process will be conducted by the NSW Electoral Commission and further details will be provided on this process in due course.

Council thanks Michael for his contribution to Oberon Council and wish him every success in the future.

Andrew McKibbin

Mayor

The official announcement from the NSW Electoral Commission can be seen here

There are rumours circulating around Oberon about the reasons for Mr Crye leaving the Council (Oberon Matters has heard two, both delivered with absolute certainty but which have not a single point of agreement). When something is known that is both true and which can be reported without attracting defamation lawyers this page will be updated with the reason. Meanwhile, there's this.

Update October 30, 2025

The following appeared in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald (October 26) about opposition to renewable energy. It explains a lot.

Further north, in NSW, the tensions have slipped towards threats of violence. In March this year, a pilot working for Essential Energy was conducting power line maintenance checks over a property in the central west town of Oberon owned by Michael Geoffrey Crye, a councillor elected on an anti-wind farm ticket.

According to police documents obtained by this masthead, an "emotional" Crye called Essential Energy to complain that the helicopter was "causing his animals to react and hurt themselves" and threatened to "take a shot at it".

"Very very lucky I am not lambing and they didn’t run ewes off lambs or id [sic] of dropped the c---s outa [sic] the sky," he wrote in a text message to an Essential Energy worker.

Crye took a rifle with an attached scope from his car and "tracked" the helicopter with his rifle, video taken from the chopper revealed.

Crye - who told police he had only "looked at" the helicopter through the rifle scope, which he said was not loaded - pleaded guilty to intimidation and using a carriage service to threaten serious harm against the pilot.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and fined $2000. Police seized firearms from him and his family members

The casual vacancy can't be filled immediately. This is because the NSW Electoral Commission has a procedure for filling vacancies which can be seen here.

The timetable for the process can be seen here.

Tuesday, April 22 - Candidate applications open
Friday, May 2 - 12 noon: Candidate applications close and roll closes
Monday, May 5 - 11am: Eligible candidates declared
Wednesday, May 7 - Election day, Count starts, Results published

See also: Editorial - Council vacancies