Ex Deputy Mayor of Auburn and troubled property developer Salim Mehajer has announced he’s in the race to become Mayor of Surry Hills.

In an attempt to rehabilitate his image, Mehajer has rebranded himself Salim Dusty, to cater for the higher Anglo Saxon population in Sydney’s East.

Additionally in an astute move that ensures he ingratiates himself with the local hipster populace the master politician animal has indicated he’ll throw away the Armani Suits in place of Nineties Normcore, and throw in a fair whack of Australiana.

He intends to release a tribute album of Slim Dusty’s greatest hits under the name Salim Dusty.

Mehajer’s rebrand as ‘Salim Dusty and the Developers’

Slim Dusty AO MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer, who was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country’s most awarded stars, with a career spanning nearly seven decades and numerous recordings, he was the archetypical “Father of Country Music”.

Mehajer’s new band ‘Salim Dusty and the Developers’ will be covering iconic songs like ‘The Pub with No Beer’ cleverly changing the lyrics to ‘The Pub with No Beard’, a nod to non-Muslims, but ironically a controversial challenge to hipsters.

The image change is the brain child of master image maker and celebrity manager Max Markson of ‘Markson Sparks!’, one of Australia‘s premier publicity, celebrity management and events organisation.

When asked for comment Max Markson said ‘Australians love nothing more than a comeback and this represents the exciting new chapter in one of Australia’s greatest modern day colourful characters’.

You’ll no doubt see Salim as he gets about Surry Hills on his brand new fixie.

‘Salim Dusty and the Developers’ will be touring Surry Hills all this month.