In the late 1980s, the Government of New South Wales perceived that the Sydney City Council was insufficiently committed to some major infrastructural projects such as the monorail and the redevelopment of Darling Harbour.

A special inquiry and subsequent report (the Goran Report) advocated separating the Sydney central business district (CBD) from surrounding suburbs and replacing municipal government in the CBD with a special commission to ensure it was governed as a financial, commercial and tourist centre.

[2] In 1989, a new South Sydney City Council was created with the pre-1982 areas but also including most of Surry Hills and the eastern side of the City from The Domain to Boundary Road, including Woolloomooloo and Kings Cross, Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay which had not previously been a part of South Sydney.

[3] The 2003 merger was perceived as an attempt to bring more working class Labor Party voters into the City of Sydney.

[7][8] Furness was the first member of the Democrats elected to South Sydney City Council, and it was his vote that prevented Labor from holding the mayoralty from 2000 until 2002.