Tweed’s new Mayor Reece Byrnes has confirmed a colourful Tinder profile listing “short-term fun”, his council job, ethical non-monogamy and a simple answer on cannabis: “Yes”.

Cr Byrnes owned up to the profile after fellow Tweed councillor Kimberly Hone posted about screenshots circulating on community Facebook pages and encouraged anyone concerned by their contents to make a formal complaint to Council.

“Yes, the profile was real. Yes it did list my former job as Deputy Mayor,” Cr Byrnes said.

“But let’s be real. This isn’t about me as a single man being on a dating app, it’s about the issue of cannabis.”

Cr Hone said she had received links and screenshots of Cr Byrnes’ dating profile and, while his private life was his own business, concerns had been raised about him using his Deputy Mayor title and “possible cannabis use”.

The two-times Nationals candidate for the seat of Richmond published Council’s email address and phone number and encouraged concerned residents to use its complaints system.

The profile itself certainly leaves little doubt about the first point.

Cr Byrnes listed his occupation as “Deputy Mayor of Tweed Shire at Tweed Shire Council”.

It also said the then 38-year-old was looking for “short-term fun” and listed his relationship preferences as monogamy, ethical non-monogamy and “open to exploring”.

Then comes the line causing all the fuss.

“Cannabis: Yes.”

There are other revelations unlikely to trouble Council’s complaints department.

Asked about his worst midnight snack habit, Cr Byrnes nominated two-minute beef noodles with pepper steak cup-a-soup added.

“Gormet!” he declared.

The profile appears relatively recent, listing Byrnes as 38 and Deputy Mayor, a position he returned to in September last year. 

Mayor hits back

Cr Byrnes was elected Mayor on Thursday, defeating Cr Hone 4-2 in the councillor vote, with Meredith Dennis elected Deputy Mayor. He replaced Chris Cherry after her six years in the job.

ALP insiders have suggested the mayoralty could raise his profile ahead of any future contest to succeed long-serving Richmond MP Justine Elliot.

Ms Elliot was among those who quickly sprang to his defence on his Facebook post.

“Well said! You’re always putting our community first,” she wrote, describing the behaviour of the Liberals and Nationals as “pretty disgraceful”.

State Labor MP Janelle Saffin also offered support, as did Greens Byron Shire Mayor Sarah Ndiaye.

Cr Byrnes made no apologies for his views on cannabis.

“I am a staunch supporter of drug law reform,” he said.

“Who is that guy?,” – many were asking on May 6 when Cr Reece Byrnes accompanied MP Justine Elliot and took centre stage following Ballina’s Marine Rescue disaster, adding to speculation he’s being groomed as her possible replacement.

“Many people in our community depend upon medicinal cannabis and our laws need to catch up with modern times.”

He accused his critics of resorting to personal attacks and called on councillors to get back to running the shire.

And while the new Mayor has mounted a spirited defence of his position on cannabis, there has been no word on whether he’s skipping the late night carbs and slimming down for any potential tilt at federal politics.