Liberal councillor Christine Forster is unperturbed by her opponent's extraordinary popularity, one that has seen her wipe the floor with her challengers at the last two mayoral elections.
After four years on the City of Sydney council Christine Forster is hoping to pull off an underdog victory against lord mayor Clover Moore at the September 10 election.
While she openly credits her opponent as a "dominant and successful politician", it is clear Cr Forster's gloves-off approach to the lord mayor's managerial style will feature heavily in her campaign arsenal.
Describing her opponent's reign as "a dictatorship" and the current council, where Moore's independent team holds five seats, as a "nest of vipers", Cr Forster wants to see council function more like a cabinet.
She proposes giving councillors portfolios to "allow each of them to be leaders in their own right rather than it just being a dictatorship".
"It will be a complete change of culture from the very autocratic style of government we've had in the past here," she said.
New voting laws, which give each business two votes, have imbued the campaign with a degree of uncertainty and are expected to loosen Clover Moore's comprehensive 12-year grip on the Town Hall keys.
Cr Forster is adamant that should she be victorious at the September 10 poll, it won't be because the business lobby catapulted her into office.
"People have made this out to be some kind of big gerrymander," she said, alluding to criticism from Cr Moore who has repeatedly slammed the double vote as "undemocratic".
While the exact number of votes up for grabs will be confirmed next week when the NSW Electoral Commission finalises the roll, Cr Forster is sceptical that all the city's businesses – estimated to be around 60,000 – will be on it.
"I don't think the roll will be particularly large. I'm not expecting [it] to be any kind of massive advantage to anyone."
Among a number of big-ticket policies in Cr Forster's pocket is an all-access Sydney tourist card. Similar to what already occurs in major international cities such as Paris and Berlin, visitors would have access all of Sydney's major cultural and artistic attractions with one ticket.
"Sydney screams for that," she said. "It's a no-brainer."
But another issue – the CBD lockout laws – has the potential to become a defining election issue, with an independent review of the alcohol laws, led by retired High Court Justice Ian Callinan, due to deliver its findings in August.
Although the issue is squarely in the dominion of state government, council will be vying for a place at the negotiating table.
On this front, too, Cr Forster, who supports winding back the laws including a removal of the 1:30am lockout, takes aim at what she describes as Cr Moore's combative approach.
"I would go so far as to say the relationship between Town Hall and Macquarie Street in the past has been at times toxic.
"We should be fostering constructive relationships with the other levels of government, rather than constantly assuming we have to go into battle with them."
But the Liberals own pre-selection process has not been without acrimony, with City of Sydney councillor Edward Mandla quitting the party this week and defecting to a rival ticket hours before the preselection vote was scheduled.
In an extraordinary exit tirade against the Liberal Party, he took aim at Cr Forster directly, saying it had "been a difficult four years working with someone who isn't a team player".
In response, Cr Forster brushed aside the comment saying she preferred to "let my track record speak for itself" rather than engage in a slanging match.
And while she hopes to win voters over with a model of unifying leadership, it is precisely Clover Moore's battle-ready independence that has seen Sydneysiders repeatedly return her to office with a thumping majority.
Now seeking her fourth term, Cr Moore decimated her opponents at the 2008 and 2012 elections, reaping over 50 per cent of first preference votes.
But Cr Forster is adamant that even the most successful politicians have a shelf life.
"Sydney after 12 years needs a change. The lord mayor's administration has become very complacent."
